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- Good evening.

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I'm Sheri Castelnuovo, 
the Curator of Education,

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and on behalf of MMoCA's 
staff and board of trustees,

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it's my pleasure to welcome you

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to the Steven 
Fleischmann Lectureship,

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featuring Sonya Clark.

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The lectureship honors 
the 25th anniversary

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of Steven Fleischmann's 
tenure as Museum Director.

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Members of MMoCA's 
Board of Trustees

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who served during that time,

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funded an endowment to 
provide for an annual lecture

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by individuals who have made 
exceptional contributions

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to art and culture.

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Talks organized 
for the lectureship

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are held each year in April, 
and have free admission,

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in recognition of the 
museum's dedication

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to providing access 
to opportunities

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for learning and enrichment.

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We're very fortunate to have,

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as our distinguished 
guest, Sonya Clark.

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Originally from Washington D.C.,

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and now residing in 
Amherst, Massachusetts,

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Sonya Clark is 
internationally celebrated for

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conceptually sophisticated, 
finely crafted work,

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that builds upon 
familiar objects:

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a comb, beads, a 
dollar bill, a flag.

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As she has said, 
"Objects have personal

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"and cultural meaning, because 
they absorb our stories,

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and reflect our 
humanity back to us."

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Prior to her current appointment

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a Professor of Art 
at Amherst College,

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Sonya was a distinguished 
research fellow

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in the School of the Arts,

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at Virginia 
Commonwealth University

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where from 2006 into 2017,

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she served as chair

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for the Craft Material 
Studies Department.

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She also was a Baldwin Baskin 
Professor of Creative Arts

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at the University 
of Wisconsin-Madison

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from 2004 to 2006,

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and was on the Design 
Studies faculty

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in the School of Human 
Ecology from 1997 to 2005.

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Among the honors 
she has received

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are the 2016 Virginia 
Commonwealth University's

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Distinguished Scholars Award,

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an honorary doctorate of arts 
from Amherst College in 2015,

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and a Distinguished Alumni Award

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from Cranbrook Academy 
of Art in 2011.

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She is the recipient 
of a United States

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Artist's Fellowship, a 
Pollock Krasner Award,

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and an Anonymous Was A 
Woman Award among others,

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and has held residencies 
in China, France,

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Italy, and the United States.

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Her work has been 
exhibited in over 350

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museums and galleries 
in the Americas,

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Africa, Asia, Europe, 
and Australia,

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and appears in major 
public collections,

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including the Indianapolis 
Museum of Art,

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the Montreal Museum of 
Fine Arts in Quebec,

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the Museum of Fine Arts Boston,

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and the Virginia Museum 
of Fine Arts Richmond.

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Sonya also holds a 
special place in MMoCA's

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institutional history.

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She served on the 
museum's board of trustees

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from 2000 to 2003,

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and five of her sculptures 
from the wig series,

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are included in MMoCA's 
permanent collection.

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These works reimagine the 
Fibonacci mathematical series

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through the rituals and 
traditions of African

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and African American 
hairstyling,

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and embody Sonya's exploration 
of race and identity

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through the interplay 
of material and process.

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So it's with great pleasure

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that we welcome Sonya 
Clark back to MMoCA.

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Please offer her a warm welcome.

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(audience applauds)

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- Thank you Sheri.

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(audience applauds)

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Hi, good evening.

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It's so lovely to be here

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and to see so many 
familiar faces,

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so thank you for coming out.

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It's always nice to have a 
little bit of a homecoming.

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This evening I'm going to 
be jumping all over the map,

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in terms of, there won't 
be any linear trajection.

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So, and there are no 
dates on the work,

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so you'll just have 
to follow along.

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(audience laughs)

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So I want to start 
by sharing with you

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this image,

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and this quote, or this thought.

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So James Baldwin referred to art

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as a kind of a confession.

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And so actually what 
I'm going to be doing

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in the next 45, 50 minutes 
is confessing to you.

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He describes art as 
a way of examining

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and facing one's life,

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so you can determine how you 
are connected to others' lives,

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and then iteratively, 
those others can discover

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the terms by which 
they too are connected

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to yet another group of people,

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and so on, and so on.

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So kind of everything 
you need to know about me

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is in this picture.

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This awesome woman 
was my grandmother.

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She is rocking a 
beautiful white Afro,

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which I am waiting to grow.

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(audience laughs)

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The Afro I have, the 
white, I don't have that.

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And she was an 
itinerant grandmother.

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She visited her children 
in these places,

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and I want you to 
think about this.

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So she's from Jamaica,

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and she visited her 
children and grandchildren

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in the United States of America,

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in Ghana, in the U.K.,

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and of course in Jamaica,

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all sites of the transatlantic 
slave trade route.

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So in my very family, first 
generation my cousins,

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you see resonance from that

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terrible part of our history.

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The other thing that 
you see is that,

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first of all she would hate

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that I'm showing 
you this photograph,

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but she's been an 
ancestor for a long time,

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so she doesn't get to choose.

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(audience laughs)

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Because she was actually 
quite an elegant woman,

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and here she's, you 
know, in her overalls

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and stitching at a 
Singer sewing machine.

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And that stitching at 
a Singer sewing machine

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is the other thing that 
you need to know about me.

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So my grandmother when 
she would visit with us,

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she would say, 
"Come stitch with me

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"and I'll tell you stories.

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"Come tell me your stories,

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and we'll put it in a stitch."

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She breathed her 
stories into me,

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and so this way of 
like, hair stories,

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and textiles infused 
with cultural pride 
and social justice,

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is why I'm here with you today.

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Now Chummy's last child that 
joined her as an ancestor

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was Lilith Clark.

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Lilith Clark was my mother 
who became an ancestor

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on August 27th of last year.

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And the thing about 
my mother is that

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she thought it was very strange

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that she had this daughter 
who made work with hair,

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'cause you're really 
not supposed to

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mess with your ancestors 
in that way, right?

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You know, and your 
hair is your DNA,

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and your DNA your 
ancestors, right?

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So she was a little 
like, "I'm not sure about

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this work you're makin' 
with our people."

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But she conceded,

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where she would save her hair

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every time that she 
would brush her hair,

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she would save it in 
a little Ziploc bag

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and she would give it to me.

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And her hair was 
really salt and pepper.

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So this piece 
that you're seeing here

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is my studio assistant and I

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separating her dark hair 
from her white hair.

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(audience laughs)

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Which takes a long time,

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'cause you have to have 
a white sheet of paper

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and a dark sheet of paper, 
almost like the slide,

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so you could see where 
the white hair is.

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This I'm going to also 
confess while I'm just in the

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realm of confessing, 
that my studio manager

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is much better than I am,

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because she would take a 
hair and cut it in half,

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if it was half black 
and half white,

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(audience laughs)

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and my quality control 
is not at that level.

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(audience laughs)

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But the piece is called Mom's 
Wisdom or Cotton Candy ,

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because I felt like I was 
preserving her wisdom,

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that is to say her white hair.

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But also the reference 
to cotton candy,

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both being that the 
sugar cane fields

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of her homeland Jamaica, and 
the sweetness of her wisdom

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tucked into her aging 
and fleeting memory.

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Now I grew up in 
Washington D.C.,

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my parents migrated there,

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my mother from Jamaica, 
my father from Trinidad,

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and we lived across 
the street of the,

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from this grand home,

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and in that home 
lived a family of 14.

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It was a home of 
Ambassador Ajibade,

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Ambassador Ajibade was 
from what is now Benin,

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in the West African 
nation of Benin,

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and when we, when my sister 
and I would go over there,

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we would get our hair done

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in these magnificent hairstyles,

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and so from a young age

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I knew that I was walking 
with art on my head

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because people would stop me

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and they would tell me 
how beautiful I was,

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but really only when I had

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one of these 
phenomenal hairstyles.

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(audience laughs)

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So I realized it 
might not be me,

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like I'd grown the 
material for the art,

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but the art was from 
the hands of these

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cool teenagers who 
were sort of like

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young aunties for us,

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who would do all these 
magnificent things

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on our hair.

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The Ajibade are Yoruba people,

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and the Yoruba believed 
that the seat of the soul

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is actually in one's head,

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so in that sense, 
hairdressing is not like a

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issue of vanity, but really 
an issue of ritual practice.

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So the pieces that are 
just outside in the gallery

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are my attempt 
to try and remember

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those fleeting hairstyles,

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remember the art that 
once lived on my head.

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And I should also 
share with you that

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when I was an 
undergraduate student,

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I went to a lecture

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at the University of 
Massachusetts at Amherst.

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At the time I was a 
student at Amherst College

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where I currently teach,

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and so we knew that 
the great Jimmy Baldwin

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was coming to give a lecture.

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And years later,

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actually when I was a 
faculty member here,

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I found this old notebook,

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and in that notebook I found 
a quote from James Baldwin,

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and it was the only quote,

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in fact it was the only 
text that was on the paper,

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because the rest 
of it was doodles,

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and I didn't actually 
think of myself as

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being an artist at the time.

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I was studying 
psychology at the time,

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but his quote was, "We 
must find our lost crowns

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and wear them."

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And so many years later, 
I find myself here

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at the University of 
Wisconsin-Madison,

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befriending one of the top 
African arts historians,

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Henry Drewal, and 
discussing Yoruba culture,

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and making this work.

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So fast forward to 
like 2013 or 14,

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and this idea of thinking 
about hair and textiles.

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What's the connection 
between the two of them?

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And I would say that one 
of the things that I think

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is the connection is that 
hairdressing is, perhaps,

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the first textile art form.

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Now that's something 
that a friend of mine,

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Bill Gaskins, who's a 
professor at Cornell

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once said about my work 
when he was critiquing,

253
00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:39,633
writing a review of a show 
that I had with those wigs,

254
00:11:39,666 --> 00:11:40,900
the wig series.

255
00:11:41,833 --> 00:11:44,533
And I thought, "Oh 
that's beautiful."

256
00:11:44,566 --> 00:11:47,766
Hairdressing as a 
primordial textile art form.

257
00:11:49,133 --> 00:11:54,133
Now that must have been 
back in the late 90s

258
00:11:55,066 --> 00:11:59,833
that he wrote that, and 
in about 2013 or so,

259
00:11:59,866 --> 00:12:04,033
I decided to put that 
supposition to work.

260
00:12:04,066 --> 00:12:07,600
So I gave hairdressers 
my head of hair,

261
00:12:07,633 --> 00:12:10,333
and I also gave 
them these canvases

262
00:12:10,366 --> 00:12:12,533
that were stitched 
with silk thread,

263
00:12:12,566 --> 00:12:14,666
that you see on the 
right-hand side of the slide,

264
00:12:14,700 --> 00:12:19,066
and I said, if there is 
language between hairdressing

265
00:12:19,100 --> 00:12:20,733
and textile arts,

266
00:12:20,766 --> 00:12:24,100
then if I go to the fluent 
speakers of hairdressing,

267
00:12:24,133 --> 00:12:25,800
then we'll see how 
fluent they are

268
00:12:25,833 --> 00:12:28,533
in the language of textiles.

269
00:12:28,566 --> 00:12:30,600
And the Hair Craft 
Project was born.

270
00:12:32,233 --> 00:12:35,000
I wanted to amplify the 
voices of hairdressers.

271
00:12:35,033 --> 00:12:36,066
You know there's,

272
00:12:36,100 --> 00:12:39,733
the word plait is 
related to the word plex,

273
00:12:39,766 --> 00:12:42,733
as in complex and 
having many parts,

274
00:12:42,766 --> 00:12:45,833
and this project 
itself had many parts.

275
00:12:45,866 --> 00:12:48,533
It was first shown at a 
gallery in Richmond, Virginia

276
00:12:48,566 --> 00:12:51,533
where I lived at the time, 
situated in Old Downtown

277
00:12:51,566 --> 00:12:53,466
which had become 
a new arts district,

278
00:12:53,500 --> 00:12:58,033
and the old black 
salons and barbers

279
00:12:58,066 --> 00:12:59,666
were still hanging on.

280
00:12:59,700 --> 00:13:02,733
The gentrification 
was happening.

281
00:13:02,766 --> 00:13:04,933
So in this place of art,

282
00:13:04,966 --> 00:13:06,600
I decided to bring this nexus

283
00:13:06,633 --> 00:13:08,200
of these two communities.

284
00:13:08,233 --> 00:13:10,900
Unfortunately, art 
community in Richmond,

285
00:13:10,933 --> 00:13:13,466
skewed European American,

286
00:13:13,500 --> 00:13:15,500
and certainly the hairdressers

287
00:13:15,533 --> 00:13:20,566
that I was working with were 
in African American salons,

288
00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:24,433
so they were bringing 
their clients to the show,

289
00:13:24,466 --> 00:13:27,000
people from the art community

290
00:13:27,033 --> 00:13:29,466
were bringing 
friends to the show.

291
00:13:29,500 --> 00:13:31,700
I belong to both of 
these communities,

292
00:13:31,733 --> 00:13:35,466
and people were asked to choose

293
00:13:35,500 --> 00:13:39,800
which canvases and 
the photographs

294
00:13:39,833 --> 00:13:42,666
from the hairstyles 
that I was given,

295
00:13:42,700 --> 00:13:44,800
which ones they 
thought were best.

296
00:13:44,833 --> 00:13:46,733
And then we had two jurors,

297
00:13:46,766 --> 00:13:49,366
A'Lelia Bundles who was 
a great granddaughter

298
00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:50,733
of Madame C.J. Walker,

299
00:13:50,766 --> 00:13:53,566
who is famously known for 
being one of the first

300
00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:56,566
self-made women millionaires.

301
00:13:56,600 --> 00:13:59,500
She also happened to 
be African American.

302
00:13:59,533 --> 00:14:01,866
She made her millions 
before she died,

303
00:14:01,900 --> 00:14:05,100
made her million before 
she died in 1919,

304
00:14:05,133 --> 00:14:09,766
so quite a while 
ago, 100 years ago.

305
00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:12,233
And then the other.

306
00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:17,600
And A'Lelia Bundles had also 
written an autobiography,

307
00:14:17,633 --> 00:14:19,600
not an autobiography, 
but a biography

308
00:14:19,633 --> 00:14:20,866
of her great-grandmother.

309
00:14:23,066 --> 00:14:25,633
So she came, and she 
juried what she thought

310
00:14:25,666 --> 00:14:29,000
were the best hairstyles as 
depicted in the photographs.

311
00:14:29,033 --> 00:14:31,366
And then Lowery Sims 
who was a chief curator

312
00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:33,833
of the Museum of Arts and 
Design in New York City

313
00:14:33,866 --> 00:14:35,466
at that time, juried 
what she thought

314
00:14:35,500 --> 00:14:37,766
were the best canvases.

315
00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:41,600
And the popular vote and 
the jury's vote lined up.

316
00:14:43,533 --> 00:14:45,400
Just to give you 
a sense of the show

317
00:14:45,433 --> 00:14:48,400
when it went to Art Prize,

318
00:14:48,433 --> 00:14:52,933
and then it won Art Prize,

319
00:14:52,966 --> 00:14:54,266
which surprised everybody

320
00:14:54,300 --> 00:14:58,566
and made all of the hairdressers 
very happy.

321
00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:00,266
(audience laughs)

322
00:15:00,300 --> 00:15:01,500
Because I was writing checks.

323
00:15:01,533 --> 00:15:03,500
Of course they all got 
paid for participating

324
00:15:03,533 --> 00:15:04,966
in the show in the first place,

325
00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:06,266
and then they got paid again,

326
00:15:06,300 --> 00:15:08,966
and then the whole project

327
00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:11,866
was purchased by 
the MFA in Boston,

328
00:15:11,900 --> 00:15:13,400
the Museum of Fine 
Arts in Boston,

329
00:15:13,433 --> 00:15:15,933
and then they got paid 
again (audience laughs),

330
00:15:15,966 --> 00:15:17,333
and then they started saying,

331
00:15:17,366 --> 00:15:18,800
"I should give up hairdressing,"

332
00:15:18,833 --> 00:15:20,433
and I said "Don't you do that!"

333
00:15:20,466 --> 00:15:21,833
(audience laughs)

334
00:15:21,866 --> 00:15:24,833
I said "Let me show you 
into my art collection.

335
00:15:24,866 --> 00:15:26,766
I am the biggest 
collector of it."

336
00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:29,900
(audience laughs)

337
00:15:29,933 --> 00:15:31,666
And you know, I reminded them

338
00:15:31,700 --> 00:15:33,933
that they work on a 
commissioned art form.

339
00:15:33,966 --> 00:15:37,033
When someone, when 
they do your hair,

340
00:15:37,066 --> 00:15:39,233
you pay them, that's it.

341
00:15:39,266 --> 00:15:42,166
Next, next head, next art.

342
00:15:43,233 --> 00:15:45,700
Next exchange.

343
00:15:45,733 --> 00:15:47,566
This is a sort of phenomenal 
work

344
00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:48,766
that was done on my head.

345
00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:51,033
I apologize to you all right now

346
00:15:51,066 --> 00:15:52,400
that I have such boring hair.

347
00:15:52,433 --> 00:15:54,466
(audience laughs)

348
00:15:54,500 --> 00:15:56,133
I no longer live in 
Richmond, Virginia

349
00:15:56,166 --> 00:15:57,466
where I get myself in trouble,

350
00:15:57,500 --> 00:15:59,700
'cause I come to town 
and people get jealous

351
00:15:59,733 --> 00:16:01,733
as to whose chair 
I'm going to sit in.

352
00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:04,966
But this is Jamila 
Williams' work,

353
00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:07,800
and you can see, 
there's no doubt

354
00:16:07,833 --> 00:16:11,000
that this is a 
master craftsperson,

355
00:16:11,033 --> 00:16:14,233
and that the fluency 
between textiles

356
00:16:14,266 --> 00:16:16,766
and hairdressing is clear.

357
00:16:18,133 --> 00:16:23,166
Now this idea of using 
thread in the place of hair,

358
00:16:24,700 --> 00:16:28,033
is something that you saw in 
those early works in wigs,

359
00:16:28,066 --> 00:16:30,266
in the wig series, 
that was cotton thread,

360
00:16:30,300 --> 00:16:33,466
but also in works like this 
Ro 
oted and Uprooted .

361
00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:37,133
This idea of the visceral 
pull of heritage,

362
00:16:37,166 --> 00:16:40,866
the sort of West African 
concept of knowing one's roots

363
00:16:40,900 --> 00:16:42,600
which is rooted 
in this ability of

364
00:16:42,633 --> 00:16:45,900
whether you can name 
someone in your family

365
00:16:45,933 --> 00:16:48,800
or trace your lineage 
back 10 generations.

366
00:16:48,833 --> 00:16:51,866
So I wonder how many of you 
feel like you could do that,

367
00:16:51,900 --> 00:16:53,833
like you could name your,

368
00:16:53,866 --> 00:16:55,733
certain your own generation, 
that's your name,

369
00:16:55,766 --> 00:16:59,166
and then you know, your 
parents and your grandparents,

370
00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:01,133
and your great grands, and 
your great great grands,

371
00:17:01,166 --> 00:17:02,766
and how far back can you go?

372
00:17:04,033 --> 00:17:06,700
So the ironic thing 
is that in my lineage,

373
00:17:06,733 --> 00:17:11,766
I can go back about 
now, 11 generations

374
00:17:13,300 --> 00:17:16,900
on the far less evident 
side of my heritage,

375
00:17:16,933 --> 00:17:21,000
that is to say my 
great-grandfather's 
side of my family

376
00:17:21,033 --> 00:17:22,766
as my great-grandfather 
was Scottish.

377
00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:24,600
He came from the 
Highlands of Scotland,

378
00:17:24,633 --> 00:17:27,200
so way back there in the 
Highlands of Scotland,

379
00:17:27,233 --> 00:17:29,766
knowing my people in the 
tartan and everything.

380
00:17:32,133 --> 00:17:36,600
But you know, I don't 
identify as a European person,

381
00:17:36,633 --> 00:17:39,766
so the African part 
of my heritage,

382
00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:41,333
it has been uprooted.

383
00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:47,733
So I moved to 
Richmond, Virginia.

384
00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:52,133
Seat of the Confederacy, 
(man laughs)

385
00:17:52,166 --> 00:17:54,966
and I lived there for 12 years,

386
00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,033
and if someone had 
told this black girl

387
00:17:57,066 --> 00:17:59,266
who grew up in D.C. 
that I was going to move

388
00:17:59,300 --> 00:18:01,733
to Richmond, 
Virginia and like it,

389
00:18:01,766 --> 00:18:03,233
I would have lost that bet,

390
00:18:03,266 --> 00:18:06,366
but I really did like living 
in Richmond, Virginia.

391
00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:10,733
However, I did not 
like when the governor,

392
00:18:10,766 --> 00:18:15,833
in 2010, Bob McDonnell, 
decided to proclaim

393
00:18:17,733 --> 00:18:20,433
April as Confederate 
History Month

394
00:18:20,466 --> 00:18:24,933
without any acknowledgment 
to the contributions

395
00:18:25,866 --> 00:18:27,766
of African peoples,

396
00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:30,733
people of African descent

397
00:18:30,766 --> 00:18:33,533
to the wealth of this nation,

398
00:18:33,566 --> 00:18:34,700
the wealth of Richmond,

399
00:18:34,733 --> 00:18:35,866
the wealth of Virginia,

400
00:18:35,900 --> 00:18:37,400
the wealth of the South,

401
00:18:37,433 --> 00:18:39,666
the wealth of this 
entire nation,

402
00:18:39,700 --> 00:18:41,200
and global wealth.

403
00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:46,866
Nor did he make any 
acknowledgment of 
the native peoples

404
00:18:46,900 --> 00:18:48,233
and the mass genocide.

405
00:18:49,333 --> 00:18:51,000
So I was a little 
pissy about that.

406
00:18:51,033 --> 00:18:52,200
(audience laughs)

407
00:18:52,233 --> 00:18:54,833
But pissiness can 
lead to decent art,

408
00:18:54,866 --> 00:18:56,266
so I made this piece,

409
00:18:56,300 --> 00:18:57,333
(audience laughs)

410
00:18:57,366 --> 00:19:02,933
in which I took a 
Confederate battle flag,

411
00:19:02,966 --> 00:19:05,633
actually I hand-painted this 
Confederate battle flag,

412
00:19:05,666 --> 00:19:07,600
stitched through it 
with that same technique

413
00:19:07,633 --> 00:19:09,733
of thread through canvas,

414
00:19:09,766 --> 00:19:12,233
and then using 
hairstyling techniques,

415
00:19:12,266 --> 00:19:14,466
very similar to 
the ones on wigs,

416
00:19:14,500 --> 00:19:17,833
that make up the American flag.

417
00:19:17,866 --> 00:19:20,866
So you see cornrows, 
and then the stars

418
00:19:20,900 --> 00:19:24,333
that make up the American 
flag are Bantu knots.

419
00:19:24,366 --> 00:19:26,566
So the cornrows are referring to

420
00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:28,366
people working the land, right?

421
00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:31,800
And the Bantu knots are 
referring to peoples

422
00:19:31,833 --> 00:19:34,300
that have a language, 
and a culture,

423
00:19:34,333 --> 00:19:37,100
and a civilization,

424
00:19:38,033 --> 00:19:39,866
and all of that.

425
00:19:39,900 --> 00:19:44,466
Now, after making this piece,

426
00:19:44,500 --> 00:19:45,866
which I should 
also share with you

427
00:19:45,900 --> 00:19:51,033
was in part made because 
the Museum of Fine Arts

428
00:19:51,066 --> 00:19:53,166
in Richmond, Virginia, 
on its grounds,

429
00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:55,866
was hanging a 
Confederate battle flag,

430
00:19:55,900 --> 00:19:57,300
and they had taken it down,

431
00:19:59,866 --> 00:20:01,833
Governor Bob McDonnell 
makes a proclamation,

432
00:20:01,866 --> 00:20:04,300
I make this piece, 
flag comes down,

433
00:20:04,333 --> 00:20:08,300
and all these "heritage 
not hate" people

434
00:20:08,333 --> 00:20:09,466
start coming out.

435
00:20:09,500 --> 00:20:11,300
"You've taken down our 
flag," et cetera, et cetera.

436
00:20:11,333 --> 00:20:13,533
And then I get an 
invitation from

437
00:20:13,566 --> 00:20:16,600
the Director of the 
Museum of the Confederacy

438
00:20:16,633 --> 00:20:18,400
in Richmond, which 
I have to admit

439
00:20:18,433 --> 00:20:20,366
I'd never been to before,

440
00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:22,166
and he wanted to share with me

441
00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:24,566
that I was, he 
wanted to educate me

442
00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:25,666
about a couple of things.

443
00:20:25,700 --> 00:20:27,066
(audience chuckles)

444
00:20:27,100 --> 00:20:29,466
So one of the things that he 
wanted to educate me about

445
00:20:29,500 --> 00:20:31,233
was that I was, in short,

446
00:20:31,266 --> 00:20:32,900
calling that flag that you saw,

447
00:20:32,933 --> 00:20:36,300
and that you all know so well,

448
00:20:36,333 --> 00:20:37,533
the Confederate flag.

449
00:20:37,566 --> 00:20:39,566
And he said, "Well that's 
not the Confederate flag.

450
00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:41,100
"That's the Confederate 
battle flag.

451
00:20:41,133 --> 00:20:45,533
"And in fact, there were several 
Confederate battle flags.

452
00:20:45,566 --> 00:20:47,533
"The Confederate flag is square,

453
00:20:47,566 --> 00:20:50,200
"the Confederate battle 
flag is rectangular,

454
00:20:50,233 --> 00:20:53,333
"and here are all these other 
Confederate flags as well.

455
00:20:54,466 --> 00:20:57,833
"People mistakenly call 
that one stars and bars.

456
00:20:57,866 --> 00:21:01,733
That's not the stars and bars 
one, there's another one."

457
00:21:01,766 --> 00:21:04,666
On and on and on and on.

458
00:21:04,700 --> 00:21:07,500
I will admit I 
learned some things,

459
00:21:07,533 --> 00:21:11,500
and I also got to 
encounter one of the

460
00:21:11,533 --> 00:21:16,266
first Confederate battle 
flags, this one here,

461
00:21:16,300 --> 00:21:18,466
just a portion of 
it, that you can see

462
00:21:18,500 --> 00:21:19,900
it was made out of silk,

463
00:21:19,933 --> 00:21:22,333
as many of those flags 
were at the time, or wool.

464
00:21:22,366 --> 00:21:27,733
And this piece was behind,

465
00:21:27,766 --> 00:21:31,233
it was in a darkened room 
to protect the textile

466
00:21:31,266 --> 00:21:32,233
and behind glass.

467
00:21:32,266 --> 00:21:34,833
So the glass became 
like a mirror,

468
00:21:34,866 --> 00:21:36,500
and if you look 
closely you can see

469
00:21:36,533 --> 00:21:38,166
sort of the top of my head,

470
00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:39,333
same shiny head there.

471
00:21:39,366 --> 00:21:41,100
(audience laughs)

472
00:21:41,133 --> 00:21:45,466
And so I saw myself reflected 
in this tattered cloth.

473
00:21:45,500 --> 00:21:47,866
So when 2015 came about,

474
00:21:47,900 --> 00:21:51,066
which was 150th sesquicentennial

475
00:21:51,100 --> 00:21:53,066
of the end of the Civil War,

476
00:21:53,100 --> 00:21:58,666
marked by the Battle 
at Appomattox,

477
00:21:58,700 --> 00:22:02,833
I decided to take a purchased 
Confederate battle flag

478
00:22:02,866 --> 00:22:05,466
down to its threads, to 
completely unravel it.

479
00:22:05,500 --> 00:22:09,066
So my studio assistants and I 
did that.

480
00:22:09,100 --> 00:22:12,766
We went about taking 
it down to its threads,

481
00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:15,466
to think about how far 
we had come as a nation.

482
00:22:15,500 --> 00:22:17,466
If the Confederate--

483
00:22:17,500 --> 00:22:20,566
If the Civil War had 
been lost 150 years ago,

484
00:22:22,333 --> 00:22:25,133
to the South had lost 
it 150 years ago,

485
00:22:25,166 --> 00:22:29,066
then how was it that in 2015,

486
00:22:29,100 --> 00:22:31,566
with an African 
American president,

487
00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:35,733
but even with Obama in office,

488
00:22:35,766 --> 00:22:37,833
we were witnessing as a nation

489
00:22:37,866 --> 00:22:42,500
the atrocities of policing, 
brutalizing, and murdering

490
00:22:42,533 --> 00:22:44,666
of black and brown people,

491
00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:47,866
with our phones on social media.

492
00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:53,566
So steps ahead and 
steps backwards, 
right, simultaneously.

493
00:22:54,500 --> 00:22:56,866
Sort of cognitive 
dissonance of this nation.

494
00:22:56,900 --> 00:22:59,866
And that's when I realized 
that this is the end game

495
00:22:59,900 --> 00:23:01,933
but we really have 
a lot of work to do.

496
00:23:01,966 --> 00:23:03,600
So one of the things that I did

497
00:23:03,633 --> 00:23:06,533
was invite people to 
join me in the process,

498
00:23:06,566 --> 00:23:10,233
in tandem, me only standing 
on the right side of the flag,

499
00:23:10,266 --> 00:23:12,866
someone else always 
joining me one at a time

500
00:23:12,900 --> 00:23:16,666
in unraveling the 
Confederate battle flag.

501
00:23:17,700 --> 00:23:20,400
I've done several of 
these performances.

502
00:23:20,433 --> 00:23:22,500
They usually last 
two or three hours.

503
00:23:22,533 --> 00:23:25,966
I spend two or three 
minutes with each person

504
00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:27,000
who unravels with me.

505
00:23:27,033 --> 00:23:31,066
The conversations are 
deep and interesting

506
00:23:31,100 --> 00:23:33,466
and sometimes troubling.

507
00:23:33,500 --> 00:23:35,033
Sometimes people come to tears.

508
00:23:35,066 --> 00:23:39,133
Sometimes I'm honestly, 
'cause I'm confessing,

509
00:23:39,166 --> 00:23:40,933
standing with a friend 
who's done it before

510
00:23:40,966 --> 00:23:42,666
and we're just jabbing 
about, you know,

511
00:23:42,700 --> 00:23:44,166
like we're having 
coffee, you know,

512
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:45,333
just being about the work.

513
00:23:45,366 --> 00:23:49,400
And even in two or three hours,

514
00:23:49,433 --> 00:23:51,233
we get through at 
most, half an inch.

515
00:23:51,266 --> 00:23:53,933
(audience murmuring)

516
00:23:53,966 --> 00:23:57,033
So the thing about 
the Confederacy

517
00:23:57,066 --> 00:24:00,533
is that it lives on with us 
in this way

518
00:24:00,566 --> 00:24:04,000
that it's like drinking 
water or breathing air

519
00:24:04,033 --> 00:24:05,166
in this nation.

520
00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:08,933
I mean, I question 
why we even know

521
00:24:08,966 --> 00:24:11,800
one of the Confederate 
battle flags so well.

522
00:24:11,833 --> 00:24:14,066
I think, I suspect you 
all know the answer.

523
00:24:14,100 --> 00:24:17,100
It's the Ku Klux Klan.

524
00:24:20,033 --> 00:24:22,233
And then I think like

525
00:24:22,266 --> 00:24:25,633
what other ways has 
the Confederacy sort of

526
00:24:25,666 --> 00:24:29,866
gone into our every day?

527
00:24:29,900 --> 00:24:31,200
So here's a confession.

528
00:24:31,233 --> 00:24:36,300
I rode this rollercoaster 
when I was a teenager.

529
00:24:38,100 --> 00:24:43,633
And it was the rollercoaster 
we all wanted to ride.

530
00:24:43,666 --> 00:24:47,466
So in between D.C. and Richmond, 
Virginia

531
00:24:47,500 --> 00:24:50,533
was this theme park 
called King's Dominion.

532
00:24:50,566 --> 00:24:53,900
And at King's Dominion,

533
00:24:53,933 --> 00:24:56,933
we all wanted to get on this 
fabulous wooden rollercoaster,

534
00:24:56,966 --> 00:25:02,200
and a group of kids 
were in one car,

535
00:25:02,233 --> 00:25:04,500
and another group of 
kids were in another car,

536
00:25:04,533 --> 00:25:07,400
and we were young enough that 
no one was old enough to drive

537
00:25:07,433 --> 00:25:09,300
so we're all going down,

538
00:25:09,333 --> 00:25:12,333
and there was a boy 
I had a crush on,

539
00:25:12,366 --> 00:25:14,300
and I got my first kiss.

540
00:25:14,333 --> 00:25:16,400
I associated that first kiss

541
00:25:16,433 --> 00:25:18,166
with riding this rollercoaster.

542
00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:19,466
(audience laughs)

543
00:25:23,133 --> 00:25:26,333
This rollercoaster when 
we stand in a long line

544
00:25:26,366 --> 00:25:29,800
on a hot summer day, 
we finally get on it,

545
00:25:29,833 --> 00:25:32,800
and the person who 
sort of buckles you in

546
00:25:32,833 --> 00:25:38,766
says, "Okay, now scream 
as loud as you can scream.

547
00:25:40,300 --> 00:25:41,933
Give the rebel yell."

548
00:25:41,966 --> 00:25:43,933
(audience sighs)

549
00:25:44,866 --> 00:25:47,900
And so this kind of 
insidiousness is something that

550
00:25:47,933 --> 00:25:53,000
we have to see, contend 
with, and work against,

551
00:25:53,933 --> 00:25:55,166
and resist every day.

552
00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:00,966
I'm assuming that all 
of you, more or less,

553
00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:03,366
could draw a Confederate 
flag right now.

554
00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:04,366
Is that true?

555
00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:06,200
I mean not that you'd want to,

556
00:26:06,233 --> 00:26:07,566
but you know it, right?

557
00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:09,733
Like, when I showed it, 
you knew what it was.

558
00:26:09,766 --> 00:26:13,633
You weren't like "What 
flag is that?" right?

559
00:26:14,566 --> 00:26:16,700
I'm wondering if any of 
you know what this is?

560
00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:20,566
This is the 
Confederate truce flag.

561
00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:24,166
This is the piece of cloth 
that ended the Civil War.

562
00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:26,433
This is the piece of cloth 
that we should all know,

563
00:26:26,466 --> 00:26:28,666
but we don't know it, right?

564
00:26:28,700 --> 00:26:30,166
We don't know it.

565
00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:32,400
It's a simple, 
humble, dish cloth

566
00:26:32,433 --> 00:26:34,800
that was woven in 
Richmond, Virginia,

567
00:26:34,833 --> 00:26:38,133
and was used as a truce 
or surrender flag by Lee,

568
00:26:38,166 --> 00:26:40,666
at Appomattox because 
it was a white cloth.

569
00:26:40,700 --> 00:26:41,933
We can recognize it,

570
00:26:41,966 --> 00:26:45,200
because it has these simple 
three little lines, right?

571
00:26:45,233 --> 00:26:46,900
Without those three 
little red lines

572
00:26:46,933 --> 00:26:48,500
we might not recognize it.

573
00:26:48,533 --> 00:26:51,166
But it's got this humble 
little design element.

574
00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:54,033
It was a cloth made to 
absorb things, right?

575
00:26:54,066 --> 00:26:56,533
It wasn't a cloth 
made to be a flag.

576
00:26:56,566 --> 00:26:59,200
It was a cloth that 
moved from domestic space

577
00:26:59,233 --> 00:27:00,766
to the battlefield.

578
00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:04,166
But it, this humble cloth, 
ended the Civil War.

579
00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:08,033
Now, you're only looking 
at half the cloth.

580
00:27:09,166 --> 00:27:11,100
This half lives 
at the Smithsonian

581
00:27:11,133 --> 00:27:12,366
in the American History Museum.

582
00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:14,166
I didn't have to 
dig deep to find it.

583
00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:17,166
It was just on display, 
but we don't know it.

584
00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:18,666
It was next to 
Lincoln's top hat.

585
00:27:18,700 --> 00:27:20,400
You all know Lincoln's 
top hat, right?

586
00:27:20,433 --> 00:27:23,866
(audience laughs)

587
00:27:23,900 --> 00:27:26,100
Why isn't this the 
symbol that endured?

588
00:27:27,833 --> 00:27:31,766
So it's half because in sort 
of truce surrender politics

589
00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:33,900
you cut the cloth in 
half, and this half

590
00:27:33,933 --> 00:27:38,900
actually was owned by Custer, 
and then Custer's wife

591
00:27:38,933 --> 00:27:40,600
gave it to the Smithsonian.

592
00:27:40,633 --> 00:27:42,433
Someone in that family 
gave it to the Smithsonian.

593
00:27:42,466 --> 00:27:46,100
So the flag that we could say 
brought the nation together

594
00:27:46,133 --> 00:27:47,766
has actually been 
divided in half.

595
00:27:49,266 --> 00:27:52,900
So my first charge was 
to acknowledge that it

596
00:27:52,933 --> 00:27:55,533
should be thought 
of as a monument,

597
00:27:55,566 --> 00:27:57,533
and to make this piece 
called Monumental Cloth

598
00:27:57,566 --> 00:28:00,466
which is true-to-scale 
of the dish cloth,

599
00:28:00,500 --> 00:28:02,166
but to stitch the 
two halves together,

600
00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:04,233
and to suture them to 
really think of it as

601
00:28:04,266 --> 00:28:07,033
like the body of the nation.

602
00:28:07,066 --> 00:28:08,633
But my most recent show,

603
00:28:08,666 --> 00:28:10,733
one that just opened 
a few weeks ago,

604
00:28:10,766 --> 00:28:12,866
which is called, again,

605
00:28:12,900 --> 00:28:15,766
Monumental Cloth: The 
Flag We Should Know ,

606
00:28:17,466 --> 00:28:19,966
is my push back at 
what would it be like

607
00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:23,000
if this really were 
the symbol that endured

608
00:28:23,033 --> 00:28:25,866
in our consciousness 
as a nation?

609
00:28:27,633 --> 00:28:29,566
So the Fabric 
Workshop and Museum

610
00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:31,900
who collaborated with 
me on this project

611
00:28:31,933 --> 00:28:35,700
went about hand 
weaving many of these

612
00:28:35,733 --> 00:28:38,133
true-to-scale dish cloths,

613
00:28:38,166 --> 00:28:41,400
so there are 100 of 
them in the exhibition.

614
00:28:41,433 --> 00:28:44,233
And I also truly wanted 
to make one monumental,

615
00:28:44,266 --> 00:28:47,866
so this one is 15 by 30 feet,

616
00:28:47,900 --> 00:28:50,233
not quite as large as 
the Star Spangled Banner,

617
00:28:50,266 --> 00:28:52,400
but pretty damn big.

618
00:28:52,433 --> 00:28:54,033
(audience laughs)

619
00:28:54,066 --> 00:28:56,700
Now you see that red 
wall in the back?

620
00:28:58,033 --> 00:29:00,900
So you can't read 
it, but it says

621
00:29:00,933 --> 00:29:03,033
Monumental Cloth: the 
Flag We Should Know .

622
00:29:03,066 --> 00:29:05,333
It's the title wall.

623
00:29:05,366 --> 00:29:07,800
The very final hours before the,

624
00:29:07,833 --> 00:29:09,766
couple days before 
the show opened,

625
00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:11,500
that wall was white,

626
00:29:11,533 --> 00:29:13,433
and we know something 
was off in the space,

627
00:29:13,466 --> 00:29:14,933
so they brought me in, you know,

628
00:29:14,966 --> 00:29:16,033
I'm there for the opening,

629
00:29:16,066 --> 00:29:17,533
and they said, 
"What should we do?"

630
00:29:17,566 --> 00:29:19,133
and I said "Well, color 
solves everything."

631
00:29:19,166 --> 00:29:21,766
(audience chuckles)

632
00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:24,633
I said let's take those 
three little red stripes,

633
00:29:24,666 --> 00:29:26,466
you know we've madder 
dyed them so they're

634
00:29:26,500 --> 00:29:31,566
true to the real color, 
madder root dyed them.

635
00:29:32,500 --> 00:29:34,133
Let's take a little 
bit of that thread

636
00:29:34,166 --> 00:29:35,900
that we used for the Monumental

637
00:29:35,933 --> 00:29:40,800
and for the Many piece, and 
let's go to the paint store,

638
00:29:40,833 --> 00:29:42,433
and paint this wall red.

639
00:29:42,466 --> 00:29:44,833
And I got a little bit of like,

640
00:29:44,866 --> 00:29:45,933
"Ah, you think red'll work?"

641
00:29:45,966 --> 00:29:47,333
I said "Red is the only color.

642
00:29:47,366 --> 00:29:48,533
"Can't be any other color,

643
00:29:48,566 --> 00:29:50,333
"'cause if it's blue then 
then it's too patriotic.

644
00:29:50,366 --> 00:29:52,366
"It's got to be red, 
it's got to be red,

645
00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:53,533
just go with the red."

646
00:29:53,566 --> 00:29:55,200
So someone from the 
Fabric Workshop and Museum

647
00:29:55,233 --> 00:29:57,533
goes to Benjamin Moore, we 
all love Benjamin Moore.

648
00:29:57,566 --> 00:29:59,200
You're not going to 
like them so much

649
00:29:59,233 --> 00:30:00,666
at the end of this story, sorry.

650
00:30:00,700 --> 00:30:01,833
(audience laughs)

651
00:30:01,866 --> 00:30:03,466
Sorry, I'm just warning you.

652
00:30:04,733 --> 00:30:07,100
So Alec goes to Benjamin Moore,

653
00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:12,700
matching this linen that's red,

654
00:30:12,733 --> 00:30:17,700
this linen thread that's 
dyed in this madder root red,

655
00:30:17,733 --> 00:30:20,033
and he texts us 
back at the museum,

656
00:30:20,066 --> 00:30:21,966
and he says, "You're not 
going to believe this.

657
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:23,366
"There are three 
colors that are close,

658
00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:25,600
"but the perfect color 
matches this red.

659
00:30:25,633 --> 00:30:27,600
Guess what it's called."

660
00:30:27,633 --> 00:30:29,133
(audience chatters and laughs)

661
00:30:36,533 --> 00:30:38,900
And this is how this 
lives on, right?

662
00:30:38,933 --> 00:30:41,733
So Alec couldn't believe it.

663
00:30:41,766 --> 00:30:43,833
I mean first of all, 
then we had to paint

664
00:30:43,866 --> 00:30:45,000
the wall this color, right?

665
00:30:45,033 --> 00:30:46,233
(audience laughs)

666
00:30:46,266 --> 00:30:48,900
And then we had to put this 
at the base of the wall,

667
00:30:48,933 --> 00:30:50,733
'cause now the wall 
is part of the piece,

668
00:30:50,766 --> 00:30:52,133
you know what I mean?

669
00:30:52,166 --> 00:30:53,366
That's part of, right?

670
00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:54,533
- [Man In Audience] Right.

671
00:30:54,566 --> 00:30:56,166
- So Alec is like 
"I cannot believe

672
00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:57,333
"there's a Confederate red.

673
00:30:57,366 --> 00:30:58,366
I just cannot believe it."

674
00:30:58,400 --> 00:30:59,733
So he goes online.

675
00:30:59,766 --> 00:31:01,033
So he had the paint chip

676
00:31:01,066 --> 00:31:03,733
and the paint chip says 
Confederate Red, this color.

677
00:31:03,766 --> 00:31:06,100
He looks it up and 
it's been renamed

678
00:31:06,133 --> 00:31:08,633
to Patriotic Red.

679
00:31:08,666 --> 00:31:11,133
Is that better?

680
00:31:11,166 --> 00:31:12,866
(audience chuckles)

681
00:31:12,900 --> 00:31:15,500
And back in 2014, and 
you can look this up,

682
00:31:15,533 --> 00:31:18,566
there's someone who 
worked for Benjamin Moore

683
00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:20,000
that brought a 
lawsuit against them,

684
00:31:20,033 --> 00:31:23,833
because he's a brown man, and 
they named a color after him,

685
00:31:23,866 --> 00:31:27,700
like if they named a 
color Chocolate Sonya

686
00:31:27,733 --> 00:31:29,366
and they didn't 
talk to me about it.

687
00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:30,533
(audience laughs)

688
00:31:30,566 --> 00:31:31,600
Like really problematic.

689
00:31:31,633 --> 00:31:34,766
And in that lawsuit, 
in this article,

690
00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:38,066
it says that, you know, he said,

691
00:31:38,100 --> 00:31:42,166
"Just in case you all think 
that I'm being sensitive,

692
00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:45,533
"Benjamin Moore has 
on their website

693
00:31:45,566 --> 00:31:47,466
"this color called 
Confederate Red,

694
00:31:47,500 --> 00:31:49,966
and they refer to it as 
an enduring classic."

695
00:31:53,033 --> 00:31:56,100
So this is the propaganda 
that we're about, right?

696
00:31:56,133 --> 00:31:58,666
Like this is what lives 
on in this nation,

697
00:31:58,700 --> 00:32:00,833
so I really wanted 
to dig at this,

698
00:32:00,866 --> 00:32:05,833
so also in the show, aligning 
with those three red stripes,

699
00:32:05,866 --> 00:32:08,100
we did some research 
to come up with

700
00:32:08,133 --> 00:32:10,333
all the merchandise that 
you can purchase online

701
00:32:10,366 --> 00:32:12,333
that has a Confederate 
battle flag.

702
00:32:12,366 --> 00:32:14,800
(audience murmuring)

703
00:32:14,833 --> 00:32:16,433
It is an exhaustive list.

704
00:32:16,466 --> 00:32:18,066
I had to stop at 200.

705
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:20,166
I had to stop at 200.

706
00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:23,900
In case you're wondering, 
you can buy a yoga mat

707
00:32:25,100 --> 00:32:26,966
with a Confederate 
battle flag on it,

708
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:31,733
a baby onesie, bikini,

709
00:32:32,666 --> 00:32:36,766
and also a dishcloth.

710
00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:41,300
So I performed this 
piece called Reversals ,

711
00:32:41,333 --> 00:32:42,933
and this I the 
only place in which

712
00:32:42,966 --> 00:32:44,900
a Confederate 
battle flag appears

713
00:32:44,933 --> 00:32:46,966
in Monumental Cloth: The 
Fl 
ag You Should Know .

714
00:32:48,266 --> 00:32:53,266
I am dressed in this clothing

715
00:32:55,866 --> 00:32:59,100
borrowed from a 
famous photograph

716
00:32:59,133 --> 00:33:01,266
that I'll show you in a bit.

717
00:33:02,266 --> 00:33:04,966
I am kneeling on one knee,

718
00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:09,700
to conjure the idea 
of Colin Kaepernick,

719
00:33:09,733 --> 00:33:13,733
and I am cleaning the 
floor that is dirtied

720
00:33:13,766 --> 00:33:16,466
with dust gathered 
from Independence Hall

721
00:33:16,500 --> 00:33:19,966
and the Declaration 
House in Philadelphia,

722
00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:22,600
and as I clean the floor,

723
00:33:22,633 --> 00:33:26,300
the Declaration of 
Independence appears.

724
00:33:26,333 --> 00:33:28,066
And I am cleaning the floor

725
00:33:28,100 --> 00:33:31,200
with merchandise that 
you can purchase online

726
00:33:31,233 --> 00:33:33,600
(audience laughs)

727
00:33:33,633 --> 00:33:38,533
a dishcloth or a towel, 
that is printed with

728
00:33:38,566 --> 00:33:41,500
the Confederate battle flag.

729
00:33:44,033 --> 00:33:48,200
So this is the 
image of my dress.

730
00:33:49,133 --> 00:33:51,666
This dress was made 
after Ella Watson,

731
00:33:51,700 --> 00:33:53,966
the famous Gordon 
Parks photograph

732
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:58,766
that got renamed American 
Go 
thic , taken in 1942.

733
00:33:59,700 --> 00:34:02,000
And I wanted to 
embody Ella Watson,

734
00:34:02,033 --> 00:34:06,666
who has this full life 
as a full human being

735
00:34:06,700 --> 00:34:08,966
who is cleaning up,

736
00:34:11,066 --> 00:34:16,133
and to honor all the domestic 
laborers in this world,

737
00:34:17,066 --> 00:34:18,766
in this nation, farm laborers,

738
00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:22,666
domestics, teachers, nurses.

739
00:34:22,700 --> 00:34:27,766
Many women in my family have 
held those kinds of positions

740
00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:31,833
and that's the other reason 
that I'm here before you.

741
00:34:31,866 --> 00:34:35,466
So that's about it 
for that project.

742
00:34:35,500 --> 00:34:36,700
There's some more pieces to it,

743
00:34:36,733 --> 00:34:39,066
but just in the interest 
of time, I'll move forward.

744
00:34:39,100 --> 00:34:41,633
I made this piece called 
Edifice and Mortar

745
00:34:41,666 --> 00:34:44,033
and it's connected 
to the idea of labor,

746
00:34:44,066 --> 00:34:47,700
and also the idea 
of empire building.

747
00:34:47,733 --> 00:34:50,166
I hope you can see 
that it, too, is

748
00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:55,766
making reference to a flag, 
perhaps an upside down flag.

749
00:34:56,933 --> 00:35:01,033
The bricks, the brick 
wall is 13 bricks high,

750
00:35:01,066 --> 00:35:04,133
to make reference 
to the 13 stripes.

751
00:35:04,166 --> 00:35:07,166
The bricks are stamped 
with: We hold these truths

752
00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:10,166
to be self evident, 
that all men are--

753
00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:11,633
- [All] Created equal.

754
00:35:11,666 --> 00:35:15,266
- Yes, one of the big 
paradoxes of our nation.

755
00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:19,500
That you know, with pursuit of

756
00:35:19,533 --> 00:35:24,600
life, liberty, and 
happiness (Sonya chuckles),

757
00:35:25,533 --> 00:35:27,833
and yet that's not true for 
all people in this nation,

758
00:35:27,866 --> 00:35:32,733
so an edifice is not only a 
large and imposing building,

759
00:35:33,666 --> 00:35:35,433
it's also a complex 
system of beliefs,

760
00:35:35,466 --> 00:35:41,300
and the mortar here is made to,

761
00:35:41,333 --> 00:35:45,466
gathered from the hair of 
African American salons

762
00:35:45,500 --> 00:35:47,733
in Richmond, 'cause 
I have a lot of

763
00:35:47,766 --> 00:35:50,700
salon friends in Richmond.

764
00:35:50,733 --> 00:35:54,500
And the idea is that 
the mortar is at once,

765
00:35:54,533 --> 00:35:56,866
representing black 
people that are

766
00:35:56,900 --> 00:35:58,533
held under the 
weight of the system,

767
00:35:58,566 --> 00:36:01,333
but also are 
responsible for building

768
00:36:01,366 --> 00:36:03,566
the wealth of the 
nation at the same time.

769
00:36:04,666 --> 00:36:06,400
If you're not 
familiar with this,

770
00:36:06,433 --> 00:36:10,166
this is an example of an 
ancient Roman brick stamp,

771
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:12,333
and I'm showing it 
to you because it,

772
00:36:12,366 --> 00:36:17,633
and the next slide, tie 
into the back of the piece,

773
00:36:17,666 --> 00:36:19,300
Edifice and Mortar .

774
00:36:19,333 --> 00:36:22,166
These ancient 
Roman brick stamps,

775
00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:25,900
and this one is from 2 B.C.,

776
00:36:25,933 --> 00:36:30,833
the outside of the crescent 
would have the name of the

777
00:36:30,866 --> 00:36:32,500
person who owned the clay pit.

778
00:36:32,533 --> 00:36:35,400
The next inner circle would 
have the name of the person

779
00:36:35,433 --> 00:36:37,433
who owned the enslaved person

780
00:36:37,466 --> 00:36:39,033
who was making the bricks,

781
00:36:39,066 --> 00:36:41,733
and in this particular 
one, COS is the name

782
00:36:41,766 --> 00:36:44,333
of the enslaved person 
in ancient Rome.

783
00:36:44,366 --> 00:36:47,000
Now in ancient Rome 
race didn't play

784
00:36:47,033 --> 00:36:49,433
in the way that it 
does in this nation,

785
00:36:49,466 --> 00:36:50,833
or in the history 
of this nation,

786
00:36:50,866 --> 00:36:52,833
or certainly in the history of

787
00:36:52,866 --> 00:36:54,633
the transatlantic slave trade.

788
00:36:54,666 --> 00:36:57,800
But certainly slavery is 
what built the Roman Empire,

789
00:36:59,933 --> 00:37:02,166
and I would say 
slavery is what built

790
00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:06,800
the American Empire, and 
yes, I called it an empire.

791
00:37:06,833 --> 00:37:09,666
And it's also, Richmond 
and many of our cities,

792
00:37:09,700 --> 00:37:12,733
our older cities, are 
brick cities as well,

793
00:37:12,766 --> 00:37:18,200
and so this is, and you can 
see maybe in that middle brick,

794
00:37:18,233 --> 00:37:21,466
those old hand prints, 
impressions left

795
00:37:21,500 --> 00:37:24,933
by an enslaved African American 
in the still wet bricks,

796
00:37:24,966 --> 00:37:28,533
and these were people who 
were forced to make bricks

797
00:37:28,566 --> 00:37:33,600
for those slave quarters 
that still exist

798
00:37:33,633 --> 00:37:38,200
at Historic Stagville 
in North Carolina.

799
00:37:38,233 --> 00:37:40,133
In what was then,

800
00:37:40,166 --> 00:37:44,366
the largest antebellum 
plantation complex in the state.

801
00:37:45,700 --> 00:37:48,333
So the back of the 
piece has this.

802
00:37:48,366 --> 00:37:50,966
You can see it has this 
crescent shape

803
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:56,833
that is making reference to 
the ancient Roman brick stamps.

804
00:37:56,866 --> 00:37:59,333
And hopefully you 
can also see that

805
00:37:59,366 --> 00:38:01,666
it kind of looks like an Afro?

806
00:38:01,700 --> 00:38:02,833
(audience murmuring)

807
00:38:02,866 --> 00:38:04,466
Yeah, that part is obvious.

808
00:38:04,500 --> 00:38:07,466
And then are there any 
Italian speakers in the house?

809
00:38:07,500 --> 00:38:10,266
Yeah, okay.

810
00:38:10,300 --> 00:38:13,766
So, for the non-Italian 
speakers,

811
00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:17,433
if I said ciao, would 
you know what that meant?

812
00:38:17,466 --> 00:38:18,633
(audience murmuring)

813
00:38:18,666 --> 00:38:21,600
Yeah, okay, so everybody 
knows ciao, right?

814
00:38:21,633 --> 00:38:23,966
So ciao is a greeting that 
means hello or goodbye.

815
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:25,500
That's the way we think of it.

816
00:38:25,533 --> 00:38:29,933
Ciao is directly derived 
from this word schiavo,

817
00:38:29,966 --> 00:38:32,333
which is an Italian word,

818
00:38:32,366 --> 00:38:34,000
and would one of 
the Italian speakers

819
00:38:34,033 --> 00:38:36,400
like to tell us what 
that word means?

820
00:38:36,433 --> 00:38:38,766
- [Woman] Slave. 
- Schiavo means slave.

821
00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:41,033
So when we are saying 
ciao to one another,

822
00:38:41,066 --> 00:38:43,833
you know, 'cause we're 
all so cosmopolitan,

823
00:38:43,866 --> 00:38:47,500
(audience chuckles) we're 
actually saying I'm your slave,

824
00:38:47,533 --> 00:38:49,333
I'm in your service.

825
00:38:49,366 --> 00:38:51,700
And that's that kind 
of interesting slippage

826
00:38:51,733 --> 00:38:53,100
that happens, you know.

827
00:38:53,133 --> 00:38:55,700
Roman Empire slips 
into our language,

828
00:38:55,733 --> 00:38:58,033
and suddenly we're 
saying ciao, right?

829
00:38:58,066 --> 00:39:00,833
I'm your slave.

830
00:39:00,866 --> 00:39:02,233
And just to work that through,

831
00:39:02,266 --> 00:39:04,700
so you understand, 
so schiavo, right?

832
00:39:04,733 --> 00:39:09,266
In Venice it would be 
sort of softened to shiao,

833
00:39:09,300 --> 00:39:12,366
and you see how we 
get to ciao from that.

834
00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:18,000
Well I didn't get here 
and mourn for this guy.

835
00:39:18,033 --> 00:39:21,866
(audience laughs)

836
00:39:21,900 --> 00:39:23,900
But it's problematic, right?

837
00:39:23,933 --> 00:39:25,566
You know the great emancipator

838
00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:27,333
was making an economic decision

839
00:39:27,366 --> 00:39:29,000
which is why he's on a $5 bill,

840
00:39:29,033 --> 00:39:32,466
and why I sell these pieces 
for a lot more than $5.

841
00:39:32,500 --> 00:39:33,766
(audience laughs)

842
00:39:33,800 --> 00:39:35,600
It's another kind of reversal.

843
00:39:35,633 --> 00:39:37,366
Just tryin' to get reparations.

844
00:39:37,400 --> 00:39:42,466
(audience laughs heartily)

845
00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:46,033
And also just to think as it

846
00:39:46,066 --> 00:39:48,000
relates to my particular family,

847
00:39:48,033 --> 00:39:50,566
this piece encrusted in which,

848
00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:53,233
I grew sugar crystals 
on a five dollar bill

849
00:39:53,266 --> 00:39:56,633
and I hope that this piece 
sort of seduces your eye

850
00:39:56,666 --> 00:40:00,833
and your tongue, like 
it is really rock candy.

851
00:40:00,866 --> 00:40:04,500
And that is exactly 
what was happening

852
00:40:04,533 --> 00:40:06,300
with the slave trade 
route as it relates

853
00:40:06,333 --> 00:40:08,533
to the Caribbean and 
to the southern parts

854
00:40:08,566 --> 00:40:09,900
of the United States of America.

855
00:40:09,933 --> 00:40:13,900
Places like New Orleans,

856
00:40:13,933 --> 00:40:16,700
which had big sugar 
plantations as well.

857
00:40:16,733 --> 00:40:18,766
It was a drug of trade,

858
00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:20,733
and sugar was more 
valuable than the people

859
00:40:20,766 --> 00:40:23,600
who worked the land.

860
00:40:23,633 --> 00:40:24,766
So the seduction there.

861
00:40:24,800 --> 00:40:30,533
And also this notion that 
there's a way in which

862
00:40:30,566 --> 00:40:34,366
Lincoln's legacy 
can be sugarcoated.

863
00:40:34,400 --> 00:40:39,133
Like yes, he 
emancipated the slaves

864
00:40:39,166 --> 00:40:40,633
or enslaved people, grateful,

865
00:40:40,666 --> 00:40:43,466
it was also complicated.

866
00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:48,666
So I want to share with 
you this use of sugar.

867
00:40:48,700 --> 00:40:50,233
This piece is called 
Sugar Freed ,

868
00:40:50,266 --> 00:40:51,933
and it's made from pastillage.

869
00:40:51,966 --> 00:40:56,766
Pastillage is a sugar paste 
popularized by Queen Victoria

870
00:40:56,800 --> 00:40:58,400
in the late 1800s,

871
00:40:58,433 --> 00:41:03,333
and the form of these 
teeth is inspired by Nanny,

872
00:41:03,366 --> 00:41:07,233
and many of you, maybe 
Faizal would know this,

873
00:41:07,266 --> 00:41:11,400
Nanny was the equivalent 
of Sojourner Truth

874
00:41:11,433 --> 00:41:12,500
but in Jamaica.

875
00:41:12,533 --> 00:41:16,333
She was a African 
woman who was captured,

876
00:41:16,366 --> 00:41:20,333
and then she 
emancipated herself,

877
00:41:20,366 --> 00:41:22,666
and ran to the hills,

878
00:41:22,700 --> 00:41:25,133
became part of the 
Maroon Kingdom there,

879
00:41:25,166 --> 00:41:29,733
and helped free other enslaved 
people in the Caribbean.

880
00:41:29,766 --> 00:41:35,200
Eduardo Galeano wrote 
this prose poem,

881
00:41:35,233 --> 00:41:37,933
"Queen of the Free" to her.

882
00:41:37,966 --> 00:41:41,233
"It happens in the first 
half of the 18th century.

883
00:41:41,266 --> 00:41:43,333
"The international 
division of labor

884
00:41:43,366 --> 00:41:48,133
"decides that Jamaica exists 
to sweeten Europe's table.

885
00:41:48,166 --> 00:41:51,500
"The land produces sugar, 
sugar, and more sugar.

886
00:41:51,533 --> 00:41:54,833
"In Jamaica, as in 
Brazil, diversity of diet

887
00:41:54,866 --> 00:41:58,000
"is a privilege of 
those who escape.

888
00:41:58,033 --> 00:42:00,066
"Although fertile 
land is hard to find

889
00:42:00,100 --> 00:42:01,766
"in the high mountains,

890
00:42:01,800 --> 00:42:04,233
"the Maroons figure out 
how to grow everything,

891
00:42:04,266 --> 00:42:06,866
"and even raise 
pigs and chickens.

892
00:42:06,900 --> 00:42:09,866
"Hidden here, they see 
without being seen.

893
00:42:09,900 --> 00:42:12,800
"They sting and 
then they vanish.

894
00:42:12,833 --> 00:42:15,166
"In the windward blue mountains

895
00:42:15,200 --> 00:42:18,266
"Nanny has her temple 
and her throne.

896
00:42:18,300 --> 00:42:20,733
"She is queen of the free.

897
00:42:20,766 --> 00:42:23,466
"Once a machine for 
birthing slaves,

898
00:42:23,500 --> 00:42:25,233
"now she wears necklaces

899
00:42:25,266 --> 00:42:29,166
made of the teeth of 
English soldiers."

900
00:42:34,766 --> 00:42:37,666
I worked with one of 
my hairdressing friends

901
00:42:37,700 --> 00:42:41,000
who was cutting off 
the dreadlocks of 
one of her clients.

902
00:42:41,033 --> 00:42:43,033
And I said, if you have 
anybody who decides to

903
00:42:43,066 --> 00:42:44,266
cut off their dreadlocks,

904
00:42:44,300 --> 00:42:46,900
and they don't have any 
problem with their dreadlocks

905
00:42:46,933 --> 00:42:49,933
then going to an artist 
who might put the piece

906
00:42:49,966 --> 00:42:52,933
into the art 
market, all of that,

907
00:42:53,866 --> 00:42:56,700
then please let me know.

908
00:42:56,733 --> 00:42:58,066
And so she did this.

909
00:42:58,100 --> 00:43:01,800
She cut off some clients' 
dreadlocks and gave them to me

910
00:43:01,833 --> 00:43:03,233
and so I had all 
these dreadlocks,

911
00:43:03,266 --> 00:43:04,800
and I put them 
dreadlock to dreadlock

912
00:43:04,833 --> 00:43:06,266
so that it made 
this long length,

913
00:43:06,300 --> 00:43:09,433
and it didn't measure 
anything meaningful to me.

914
00:43:09,466 --> 00:43:10,933
And I kept trying to figure out

915
00:43:10,966 --> 00:43:13,333
what to do with 
that measurement.

916
00:43:13,366 --> 00:43:18,433
And so eventually I just 
turned it into this skein,

917
00:43:19,366 --> 00:43:20,600
this ball of yarn,

918
00:43:22,133 --> 00:43:23,966
and I thought, 
well, does the size

919
00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:25,700
of the ball of 
yarn mean anything?

920
00:43:25,733 --> 00:43:26,866
No, no.

921
00:43:26,900 --> 00:43:29,100
'Cause I wanted to 
assign something

922
00:43:29,133 --> 00:43:32,000
that had meaning to 
all of these hairs,

923
00:43:32,033 --> 00:43:33,333
to the length of it.

924
00:43:33,366 --> 00:43:37,833
And then I just went 
to something that 
I know about hair.

925
00:43:39,766 --> 00:43:41,566
If you grow hair like I do,

926
00:43:41,600 --> 00:43:47,500
then you probably have 
about 80,000 follicles

927
00:43:47,533 --> 00:43:51,166
on your scalp.

928
00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:52,733
Eighty thousand.

929
00:43:52,766 --> 00:43:54,333
So if you cut off 
all your dreadlocks

930
00:43:54,366 --> 00:43:56,633
that's like 80,000 
follicles, you know,

931
00:43:56,666 --> 00:43:58,466
and some more hairs of course

932
00:43:58,500 --> 00:44:02,933
that are comprised 
in this piece.

933
00:44:05,300 --> 00:44:08,333
80,000 was a meaningful 
number to me,

934
00:44:08,366 --> 00:44:13,433
because 80,000 is the 
number of unknown,

935
00:44:14,700 --> 00:44:18,133
well, the number of people that,

936
00:44:18,166 --> 00:44:20,566
in the height of slavery,

937
00:44:20,600 --> 00:44:22,900
were forcibly 
migrated in one year.

938
00:44:26,933 --> 00:44:29,633
So how big is UW-Madison?

939
00:44:29,666 --> 00:44:31,833
(audience members 
murmur and answer)

940
00:44:31,866 --> 00:44:33,800
40,000.

941
00:44:33,833 --> 00:44:34,966
- [Man In Audience] 44.

942
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:39,500
- 44,000, so take all the 
students at UW-Madison,

943
00:44:40,433 --> 00:44:42,400
double that, all 
of those people,

944
00:44:44,333 --> 00:44:46,633
subjected to 
transatlantic slavery.

945
00:44:48,033 --> 00:44:49,966
Put into slavery by Africans,

946
00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:53,666
taken by Europeans, 
subjected to slavery

947
00:44:53,700 --> 00:44:55,366
all over the world.

948
00:45:00,200 --> 00:45:02,433
So I'm often thinking about race

949
00:45:02,466 --> 00:45:06,900
and race designation, 
because it's a construct.

950
00:45:06,933 --> 00:45:09,000
We know this.

951
00:45:10,100 --> 00:45:14,666
And this sort of,

952
00:45:15,600 --> 00:45:17,900
let me explain to you 
how much I think about it

953
00:45:17,933 --> 00:45:18,966
as being a construct.

954
00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:20,600
So, remember before 
when I told you

955
00:45:20,633 --> 00:45:23,166
that my great-grandfather 
is Scottish?

956
00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:27,166
Right, but I bet none of 
you when I'm standing here

957
00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:30,500
are thinking, yes, it's a 
nice Scottish lass, right?

958
00:45:30,533 --> 00:45:32,633
I mean it's just not 
really how we do it

959
00:45:32,666 --> 00:45:33,900
in the US right?

960
00:45:34,933 --> 00:45:37,666
And yet I think about the 
notion of passing, right,

961
00:45:37,700 --> 00:45:40,633
and even though the 
complications within that notion

962
00:45:40,666 --> 00:45:42,200
that people would accuse

963
00:45:42,233 --> 00:45:45,066
an African American 
person of passing.

964
00:45:45,100 --> 00:45:49,733
Now in order for 
someone to pass,

965
00:45:49,766 --> 00:45:52,600
they would have 
to understandably

966
00:45:52,633 --> 00:45:57,000
have European heritage, right?

967
00:45:57,033 --> 00:46:01,733
So the notion of passing is 
based on white supremacy, right?

968
00:46:01,766 --> 00:46:03,833
Because if I stood 
before you right now,

969
00:46:03,866 --> 00:46:08,100
and I said to you, 
I'm a Scottish person

970
00:46:08,133 --> 00:46:11,000
passing for black 
(audience laughs)

971
00:46:11,033 --> 00:46:13,866
it makes you laugh, right?

972
00:46:13,900 --> 00:46:15,066
But the reverse is something

973
00:46:15,100 --> 00:46:16,833
that we would do all the time.

974
00:46:16,866 --> 00:46:20,300
That there would 
be a person who has

975
00:46:20,333 --> 00:46:24,333
7/8 European heritage 
and 1/8 African heritage

976
00:46:24,366 --> 00:46:27,233
if you could draw the 
lines that neatly,

977
00:46:27,266 --> 00:46:30,366
and say that person's 
passing for white.

978
00:46:36,033 --> 00:46:37,366
And this piece No Passing ,

979
00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:42,266
which also refers to drawing 
borders around places,

980
00:46:44,300 --> 00:46:46,100
and the complications therein.

981
00:46:46,133 --> 00:46:52,866
So, both of those pieces 
were made with combs,

982
00:46:52,900 --> 00:46:55,066
because combs are one 
of the ways that we,

983
00:46:55,100 --> 00:46:58,366
you know, straightened, 
combs are intended

984
00:46:58,400 --> 00:47:02,266
for straight hair, 
these kinds of combs.

985
00:47:02,300 --> 00:47:04,533
Madame C.J. Walker, who I 
was telling you about before.

986
00:47:04,566 --> 00:47:06,900
She is often credited 
with creating

987
00:47:06,933 --> 00:47:12,000
the hair straightening 
comb, the hot comb,

988
00:47:13,966 --> 00:47:14,966
but she did not.

989
00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:17,766
Some Parisian people 
did that way before,

990
00:47:17,800 --> 00:47:21,533
but she did make a 
bunch of products

991
00:47:21,566 --> 00:47:25,466
that helped African American 
women straighten their hair.

992
00:47:25,500 --> 00:47:29,266
And so I wanted to make 
this piece which was

993
00:47:29,300 --> 00:47:31,266
an homage to her, actually.

994
00:47:31,300 --> 00:47:34,766
And not so much around 
the hair straightening,

995
00:47:34,800 --> 00:47:38,866
but in the, just the 
basic badassedness of her,

996
00:47:38,900 --> 00:47:42,266
'cause this is a woman 
who was born in 1867,

997
00:47:42,300 --> 00:47:44,133
a full 100 years before I was,

998
00:47:44,166 --> 00:47:47,433
who started in the cotton 
fields of the South,

999
00:47:47,466 --> 00:47:51,466
and by the time she 
died in 1919 in her 50s

1000
00:47:51,500 --> 00:47:54,233
had amassed a fortune 
of a million dollars.

1001
00:47:56,600 --> 00:47:58,166
Realize that this is before,

1002
00:47:58,200 --> 00:47:59,766
well before the 
Civil Rights Movement

1003
00:47:59,800 --> 00:48:01,433
and the Women's 
Suffrage Movement.

1004
00:48:01,466 --> 00:48:05,166
It seems impossible, 
and also realize

1005
00:48:05,200 --> 00:48:07,333
that because she had 
that kind of money

1006
00:48:07,366 --> 00:48:09,066
in this capitalist country,

1007
00:48:09,100 --> 00:48:13,600
that it meant that she was 
invited to the table, right?

1008
00:48:13,633 --> 00:48:15,800
So people would listen to her,

1009
00:48:15,833 --> 00:48:18,100
and let her speak, and she 
used that money to launch

1010
00:48:18,133 --> 00:48:19,566
anti-lynching campaigns.

1011
00:48:25,800 --> 00:48:27,166
This is a piece in which

1012
00:48:27,200 --> 00:48:30,866
one of her most famous 
quotations is stitched,

1013
00:48:30,900 --> 00:48:32,900
one work on each comb.

1014
00:48:32,933 --> 00:48:36,500
"I'm a black woman from the 
cotton fields of the South.

1015
00:48:36,533 --> 00:48:39,066
"I was promoted to the washtub.

1016
00:48:39,100 --> 00:48:42,866
"I was promoted to the kitchen.

1017
00:48:42,900 --> 00:48:45,900
"I promoted myself to 
the business of hair

1018
00:48:45,933 --> 00:48:47,433
on my own ground."

1019
00:48:49,600 --> 00:48:51,933
So, as I told you, this 
is the 100th anniversary

1020
00:48:51,966 --> 00:48:55,000
of her passing, and so 
I had a show on which to

1021
00:48:55,033 --> 00:48:58,166
this piece was part 
of the exhibition,

1022
00:48:58,200 --> 00:49:02,600
and also this piece, a 
nod to Ntozake Shange,

1023
00:49:02,633 --> 00:49:06,966
who in 1976 wrote this 
amazing piece called

1024
00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:12,166
"For Colored Girls Who 
Have Considered Suicide

1025
00:49:12,200 --> 00:49:14,066
When the Rainbow is Enuf."

1026
00:49:15,100 --> 00:49:16,666
That's comprised of an Afro wig

1027
00:49:16,700 --> 00:49:20,633
which I had great fun wearing 
before I made the piece,

1028
00:49:20,666 --> 00:49:23,033
and then these combs 
that are thread-wrapped.

1029
00:49:25,233 --> 00:49:30,366
And the last few 
pieces have to do with

1030
00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:34,366
what my husband calls 
my subtle politics

1031
00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:37,500
and he means that as a joke.

1032
00:49:37,533 --> 00:49:38,600
(audience laughs)

1033
00:49:38,633 --> 00:49:40,300
So I made this piece 
called Writer Type

1034
00:49:40,333 --> 00:49:42,633
to talk about when,

1035
00:49:43,600 --> 00:49:47,733
whether the African 
American voice is silenced,

1036
00:49:47,766 --> 00:49:51,833
or is this a piece in 
which the typewriter

1037
00:49:51,866 --> 00:49:55,100
is sort of embodying 
African American voice.

1038
00:49:55,133 --> 00:49:58,200
So is it a person or is it about

1039
00:49:58,233 --> 00:50:00,166
the silencing of something?

1040
00:50:00,200 --> 00:50:02,800
And I think that both of 
those readings and more

1041
00:50:02,833 --> 00:50:04,733
can live in an artwork.

1042
00:50:04,766 --> 00:50:05,933
This piece came quickly.

1043
00:50:05,966 --> 00:50:09,033
I picked a Remington typewriter

1044
00:50:09,066 --> 00:50:14,066
because Remington was 
known for providing arms

1045
00:50:14,100 --> 00:50:15,866
during the Civil War,

1046
00:50:15,900 --> 00:50:19,133
and then they switched 
to typewriters,

1047
00:50:19,166 --> 00:50:22,733
so the pen and the 
sword is in this piece.

1048
00:50:22,766 --> 00:50:25,633
I picked a noiseless 
because of that play

1049
00:50:25,666 --> 00:50:27,200
that I was just talking about,

1050
00:50:27,233 --> 00:50:31,366
and I picked this year of 
Remington Seven Noiseless,

1051
00:50:31,400 --> 00:50:33,000
because I'd like to think,

1052
00:50:33,033 --> 00:50:34,666
it's a model made in the 1930s,

1053
00:50:34,700 --> 00:50:37,000
and I'd like to think this 
is the kind of typewriter

1054
00:50:37,033 --> 00:50:40,500
that Richard Wright might 
have written Native Son on.

1055
00:50:40,533 --> 00:50:41,700
Just pretend.

1056
00:50:41,733 --> 00:50:46,633
And a fellow artist of 
mine, Thurmond Statham said,

1057
00:50:46,666 --> 00:50:49,933
"Every medium has its 
own hidden language."

1058
00:50:49,966 --> 00:50:54,666
And so I quickly 
started thinking about

1059
00:50:54,700 --> 00:50:58,966
what would the font 
for this typewriter be,

1060
00:50:59,000 --> 00:51:02,900
and I worked with 
a graphic designer

1061
00:51:02,933 --> 00:51:06,200
by the name of Bo Peng 
to develop this font

1062
00:51:08,600 --> 00:51:11,533
as a language of the typewriter.

1063
00:51:11,566 --> 00:51:15,966
So I used to just show the

1064
00:51:16,000 --> 00:51:19,733
the glyph or the font 
there with the letters,

1065
00:51:19,766 --> 00:51:21,566
and people would say, "Oh, 
that doesn't look like

1066
00:51:21,600 --> 00:51:22,966
it would be so hard to read."

1067
00:51:23,000 --> 00:51:24,566
So then I actually 
want to show you

1068
00:51:24,600 --> 00:51:26,966
what it really looks 
like when it's written.

1069
00:51:29,033 --> 00:51:32,333
And so even this I think about.

1070
00:51:34,200 --> 00:51:39,233
The great writer and 
thinker Ngugi wa Thiong'o

1071
00:51:40,433 --> 00:51:43,166
wrote this book called 
De 
colonizing the African Mind ,

1072
00:51:43,200 --> 00:51:45,200
in which, it's a slim novel,

1073
00:51:45,233 --> 00:51:50,700
and he gives a call out 
to other African writers,

1074
00:51:50,733 --> 00:51:53,133
and he said "Please, 
please, please

1075
00:51:53,166 --> 00:51:56,500
"write in your native tongue.

1076
00:51:56,533 --> 00:51:58,300
"Otherwise, we'll lose it,

1077
00:51:58,333 --> 00:52:01,500
"and people won't 
understand the metaphors

1078
00:52:01,533 --> 00:52:02,966
"that we have in language.

1079
00:52:03,000 --> 00:52:04,333
We'll lose the language." Right?

1080
00:52:04,366 --> 00:52:07,000
It's a beautiful thing.

1081
00:52:07,033 --> 00:52:09,800
I mean those of you who 
are bi or trilingual

1082
00:52:09,833 --> 00:52:11,133
know that there's 
some things that

1083
00:52:11,166 --> 00:52:14,400
literally don't translate 
from one language to another.

1084
00:52:14,433 --> 00:52:16,500
So it's not just for 
the loss of metaphors,

1085
00:52:16,533 --> 00:52:19,666
the loss of a way 
of thinking, right?

1086
00:52:19,700 --> 00:52:20,933
So he made this petition.

1087
00:52:20,966 --> 00:52:23,266
I met Ngugi wa Thiong'o 
not too long ago.

1088
00:52:23,300 --> 00:52:24,700
I read the book years before,

1089
00:52:24,733 --> 00:52:27,366
but he came to Amherst 
College not too long ago,

1090
00:52:27,400 --> 00:52:30,833
and as I was talking to this 
phenomenal man who should,

1091
00:52:30,866 --> 00:52:35,000
in my opinion, have won a 
Nobel Prize many years ago,

1092
00:52:35,033 --> 00:52:40,633
I realized, oh my 
gosh, but even

1093
00:52:40,666 --> 00:52:44,233
if a Yuroba person 
writes a book in Yuroba

1094
00:52:45,200 --> 00:52:47,266
what is the font?

1095
00:52:51,333 --> 00:52:56,133
I mean maybe if an Ethiopian 
person writes a book

1096
00:52:56,166 --> 00:52:59,233
it might be in Amharic right?

1097
00:53:00,233 --> 00:53:01,900
But or maybe it 
could be in Arabic,

1098
00:53:01,933 --> 00:53:03,166
if it's someone else.

1099
00:53:03,200 --> 00:53:08,266
But the, it's going to 
be in the Roman alphabet.

1100
00:53:09,200 --> 00:53:17,500
Like European hegemony is 
just, it's a big thing.

1101
00:53:17,533 --> 00:53:20,200
(audience murmuring)

1102
00:53:20,233 --> 00:53:23,433
So I'm going to try and 
teach everyone to know

1103
00:53:23,466 --> 00:53:24,833
the Confederate flag of truce

1104
00:53:24,866 --> 00:53:26,500
and to learn the twist font.

1105
00:53:26,533 --> 00:53:28,566
Those are my charges 
for the rest of my life.

1106
00:53:28,600 --> 00:53:30,766
(audience chuckles)

1107
00:53:30,800 --> 00:53:35,100
So I want to share with you 
this idea of language and hair,

1108
00:53:36,033 --> 00:53:38,266
and I think 
sometimes as artists,

1109
00:53:38,300 --> 00:53:39,700
you know that famous quote,

1110
00:53:39,733 --> 00:53:42,866
good artists borrow, 
great artists steal?

1111
00:53:42,900 --> 00:53:45,133
So I'm going to put 
myself in the category of

1112
00:53:45,166 --> 00:53:47,766
great artist here, 'cause 
I just stole this idea

1113
00:53:47,800 --> 00:53:49,566
'cause I'm confessing 
to you, remember?

1114
00:53:49,600 --> 00:53:51,900
I'm confessing.

1115
00:53:51,933 --> 00:53:53,833
I had heard that 
there was a barber

1116
00:53:53,866 --> 00:53:56,366
who would give little 
boys free haircuts

1117
00:53:56,400 --> 00:54:00,700
if they read to him in an 
African American neighborhood

1118
00:54:00,733 --> 00:54:03,066
and I just loved that idea.

1119
00:54:03,100 --> 00:54:05,266
So a friend of mine, 
Scott Cunningham,

1120
00:54:07,400 --> 00:54:09,966
runs a poetry festival in Miami,

1121
00:54:10,000 --> 00:54:13,933
and it's a small 
mission to, in April,

1122
00:54:13,966 --> 00:54:15,600
which is Poetry Month,

1123
00:54:15,633 --> 00:54:20,200
expose everyone in 
Miami-Dade County to a poem.

1124
00:54:20,233 --> 00:54:23,833
A little mission (chuckles).

1125
00:54:23,866 --> 00:54:27,700
So he invites artists, and 
artists do huge gestures like

1126
00:54:29,066 --> 00:54:33,333
painting a poem on top of 
the Big Box Store right,

1127
00:54:33,366 --> 00:54:38,300
in the flight path, so that 
people get exposure to a poem,

1128
00:54:38,333 --> 00:54:42,866
sky writing poems, small 
interventions

1129
00:54:42,900 --> 00:54:45,700
like going to Goodwill,

1130
00:54:45,733 --> 00:54:52,466
and putting a poem tucked in 
to the label of a garment.

1131
00:54:53,600 --> 00:54:57,933
But what I stole was this 
idea from this barber.

1132
00:54:59,100 --> 00:55:02,766
So I asked these 
African American men

1133
00:55:02,800 --> 00:55:07,766
in these two neighborhoods 
in Miami Overtown

1134
00:55:08,800 --> 00:55:11,866
African American, 
and then Little Haiti

1135
00:55:12,833 --> 00:55:18,266
to read a poem, a 
very specific poem

1136
00:55:18,300 --> 00:55:20,500
by Calvin Hernton, the 
late Calvin Hernton.

1137
00:55:20,533 --> 00:55:22,866
If you don't know 
Calvin Hernton,

1138
00:55:22,900 --> 00:55:26,300
he was a professor, 
African American poet,

1139
00:55:26,333 --> 00:55:28,633
professor at Oberlin College,

1140
00:55:34,566 --> 00:55:37,533
and the poem that 
he wrote in the 70s

1141
00:55:37,566 --> 00:55:39,300
is unfortunately

1142
00:55:39,333 --> 00:55:43,366
as valid 
today as it was then.

1143
00:55:45,500 --> 00:55:47,733
And it was my great privilege

1144
00:55:51,166 --> 00:55:55,500
to have these men 
read this poem.

1145
00:55:56,933 --> 00:55:59,166
And I'll recite it for 
you 'cause I know it.

1146
00:55:59,200 --> 00:56:01,300
In fact it's,

1147
00:56:03,766 --> 00:56:05,533
well, I'll recite it to you.

1148
00:56:06,966 --> 00:56:11,300
The poem's called 
"The Distant Drum."

1149
00:56:13,733 --> 00:56:16,600
"I am not a metaphor

1150
00:56:16,633 --> 00:56:19,633
"or a symbol.

1151
00:56:19,666 --> 00:56:21,533
"This you hear

1152
00:56:21,566 --> 00:56:25,566
"is not the wind in the 
trees

1153
00:56:25,600 --> 00:56:28,233
"nor is it a cat

1154
00:56:28,266 --> 00:56:32,500
"being maimed in the streets.

1155
00:56:32,533 --> 00:56:34,800
"I am being maimed 
in the streets.

1156
00:56:36,333 --> 00:56:39,333
"It is I who weep,

1157
00:56:39,366 --> 00:56:45,433
"laugh, feel pain, or joy.

1158
00:56:45,466 --> 00:56:50,300
"Speak this because I exist.

1159
00:56:50,333 --> 00:56:52,166
"This is my voice.

1160
00:56:53,100 --> 00:56:55,166
"These words are my words.

1161
00:56:56,166 --> 00:56:58,400
"My mouth speaks them.

1162
00:56:59,333 --> 00:57:01,366
"My hand writes.

1163
00:57:01,400 --> 00:57:05,300
"It is my fist 
you hear beating

1164
00:57:05,333 --> 00:57:08,200
against your ear."

1165
00:57:08,233 --> 00:57:11,266
Questions, comments?

1166
00:57:12,200 --> 00:57:13,366
So the dust.

1167
00:57:13,400 --> 00:57:18,666
It's literally dust 
from two institutions

1168
00:57:18,700 --> 00:57:20,733
that have to do with 
the Declaration.

1169
00:57:20,766 --> 00:57:23,866
Declaration House, 
Independence Hall, right?

1170
00:57:23,900 --> 00:57:27,933
So this is a piece 
that we had planned.

1171
00:57:27,966 --> 00:57:30,366
You know I was an 
artist in residence

1172
00:57:30,400 --> 00:57:32,633
at the Fabric 
Workshop and Museum,

1173
00:57:32,666 --> 00:57:35,966
which meant that they just 
asked me to come a lot

1174
00:57:36,000 --> 00:57:38,033
over 18 months.

1175
00:57:38,066 --> 00:57:40,033
So this piece had 
been in the plans

1176
00:57:40,066 --> 00:57:41,866
and the works for 
a while and I said

1177
00:57:41,900 --> 00:57:43,266
it really is important to me

1178
00:57:43,300 --> 00:57:44,666
that we're in this 
historic city,

1179
00:57:44,700 --> 00:57:48,000
that we gather dust 
from a historic site

1180
00:57:48,033 --> 00:57:50,900
that has something 
to do with this text.

1181
00:57:50,933 --> 00:57:53,033
And the staff there 
went about it,

1182
00:57:53,066 --> 00:57:54,966
and they talked to some curators

1183
00:57:55,000 --> 00:57:57,133
at some historic museums.

1184
00:57:57,166 --> 00:58:00,133
We've got the dust, 
no problem, great.

1185
00:58:00,166 --> 00:58:01,400
This is literally like

1186
00:58:01,433 --> 00:58:04,366
the stuff that comes out 
of their vacuum cleaners.

1187
00:58:04,400 --> 00:58:06,700
Like it's the dirt of 
the institution, right.

1188
00:58:06,733 --> 00:58:09,700
So we're just saying 
can we have your dust.

1189
00:58:09,733 --> 00:58:10,800
(audience laughs)

1190
00:58:10,833 --> 00:58:12,966
Yeah, like what you're 
about to throw away,

1191
00:58:13,000 --> 00:58:14,733
can we have that?

1192
00:58:14,766 --> 00:58:19,900
And about three weeks 
before the show opened,

1193
00:58:21,066 --> 00:58:23,033
the institution 
that had said yes,

1194
00:58:23,066 --> 00:58:25,500
a curator said yes, the 
museum staff said yes,

1195
00:58:25,533 --> 00:58:27,666
it went up and then 
someone said "No,

1196
00:58:27,700 --> 00:58:29,666
you can't have our dust."

1197
00:58:29,700 --> 00:58:31,466
(audience laughs)

1198
00:58:31,500 --> 00:58:34,033
So apparently a black girl 
can't have someone's dust.

1199
00:58:34,066 --> 00:58:35,666
(audience laughs)

1200
00:58:35,700 --> 00:58:38,266
I mean I can't even have it 
to clean it up (chuckles)

1201
00:58:38,300 --> 00:58:39,366
as Ella Watson.

1202
00:58:42,266 --> 00:58:46,100
But then, and that institution 
shall remain unnamed.

1203
00:58:46,133 --> 00:58:48,866
But then these two other 
institutions stepped forward

1204
00:58:48,900 --> 00:58:51,266
and they were actually 
more better suited

1205
00:58:51,300 --> 00:58:54,133
for their relevance 
to the Declaration.

1206
00:58:55,300 --> 00:58:59,733
So, I often think about that 
in the terms of reversals,

1207
00:58:59,766 --> 00:59:02,400
because I realize that 
people will come after me,

1208
00:59:02,433 --> 00:59:04,533
and they do, for 
the work that I do,

1209
00:59:04,566 --> 00:59:06,566
saying "You have no 
right to use a flag

1210
00:59:06,600 --> 00:59:07,566
to clean a floor."

1211
00:59:07,600 --> 00:59:09,166
Well it's not a 
flag, it's a towel,

1212
00:59:09,200 --> 00:59:10,566
and you printed it.

1213
00:59:10,600 --> 00:59:12,633
(audience laughs)

1214
00:59:12,666 --> 00:59:15,066
Right?

1215
00:59:15,100 --> 00:59:16,133
But when someone was like,

1216
00:59:16,166 --> 00:59:17,833
"No, you can't even have our 
dust,"

1217
00:59:17,866 --> 00:59:19,033
I was like really?

1218
00:59:19,066 --> 00:59:23,000
(audience laughs)

1219
00:59:24,633 --> 00:59:27,500
Anyway, is there 
another question for me?

1220
00:59:27,533 --> 00:59:31,500
I want everyone to 
know this truce flag,

1221
00:59:31,533 --> 00:59:35,733
and not because I think 
that it's all about peace.

1222
00:59:35,766 --> 00:59:38,333
In fact I think it's 
a complicated symbol

1223
00:59:38,366 --> 00:59:40,600
because the more that 
you know about the truce,

1224
00:59:40,633 --> 00:59:45,100
there's a historian 
that just wrote a book.

1225
00:59:48,700 --> 00:59:50,500
I cannot remember the 
name of the book, sorry.

1226
00:59:50,533 --> 00:59:55,000
But his name is David 
Silkenat, and he--

1227
00:59:55,033 --> 00:59:56,600
Did someone know the 
name of the book?

1228
00:59:56,633 --> 00:59:58,266
- [Woman In Audience] 
Raise the White Flag .

1229
00:59:58,300 --> 00:59:59,700
- Raise the White 
Flag , thank you.

1230
00:59:59,733 --> 01:00:02,166
Yes Madison audience 
(audience laughs).

1231
01:00:02,200 --> 01:00:04,200
The collective wisdom, 
collective wisdom.

1232
01:00:04,233 --> 01:00:09,433
So, David Silkenat and I 
reached out to each other

1233
01:00:09,466 --> 01:00:12,100
around this, because 
it was just April 9th

1234
01:00:12,133 --> 01:00:15,433
that the truce flag was flown,

1235
01:00:15,466 --> 01:00:17,700
and his book just came 
out in early April,

1236
01:00:17,733 --> 01:00:19,566
and my show just 
opened in late March,

1237
01:00:19,600 --> 01:00:21,300
so it's like aw, we 
found each other,

1238
01:00:21,333 --> 01:00:22,500
and people connected us.

1239
01:00:22,533 --> 01:00:28,233
And one thing that's clear 
as I'm reading this book

1240
01:00:28,266 --> 01:00:33,333
is how easy it was 
for Confederate 
soldiers to surrender.

1241
01:00:34,266 --> 01:00:36,066
They would just say 
like, "Oh, you know like

1242
01:00:36,100 --> 01:00:37,633
this is tough, I 
want to surrender."

1243
01:00:37,666 --> 01:00:40,500
And they wouldn't be 
made prisoners of war.

1244
01:00:40,533 --> 01:00:42,700
There's all this 
gentleman's agreement stuff

1245
01:00:42,733 --> 01:00:43,966
that was happening.

1246
01:00:44,900 --> 01:00:47,200
Which then makes so much 
sense when you realize like

1247
01:00:47,233 --> 01:00:48,800
nothing was ever taken away.

1248
01:00:48,833 --> 01:00:50,266
Like, you're enemies 
of the state,

1249
01:00:50,300 --> 01:00:52,133
but nothing's ever taken away.

1250
01:00:52,166 --> 01:00:55,066
Because there's, I guess 
there's this recognition

1251
01:00:55,100 --> 01:00:56,366
that we all know, right,

1252
01:00:56,400 --> 01:00:59,200
that what the South 
was holding on to

1253
01:00:59,233 --> 01:01:00,733
was the dirty business 
that the North

1254
01:01:00,766 --> 01:01:04,000
had been involved in not so 
many years before, right.

1255
01:01:04,033 --> 01:01:05,433
So there's this sense of like

1256
01:01:05,466 --> 01:01:07,266
"You're just a little 
slower than us.

1257
01:01:07,300 --> 01:01:10,466
We're just not doing 
that anymore (chuckles)."

1258
01:01:10,500 --> 01:01:12,833
I mean I'm understating this, 
gravely,

1259
01:01:12,866 --> 01:01:15,800
but it's a complicated symbol.

1260
01:01:15,833 --> 01:01:19,733
Truth and reconciliation is 
complicated work,

1261
01:01:19,766 --> 01:01:26,000
and so I just feel if we focus 
on the peace brokering,

1262
01:01:27,566 --> 01:01:31,566
and that we might be a little 
further along than we are.

1263
01:01:31,600 --> 01:01:35,533
And I just love the idea 
that there are children,

1264
01:01:35,566 --> 01:01:39,633
who came to, and 
will continue coming

1265
01:01:39,666 --> 01:01:42,566
to the show at the 
Fabric Workshop,

1266
01:01:42,600 --> 01:01:44,633
who will have the opportunity

1267
01:01:44,666 --> 01:01:50,533
to sit at the loom and 
weave a truce flag,

1268
01:01:51,466 --> 01:01:53,666
you know, participate 
in weaving a truce flag,

1269
01:01:53,700 --> 01:01:55,466
cause it takes a long 
time to make cloth.

1270
01:01:55,500 --> 01:01:57,133
It takes a long 
time to undo cloth,

1271
01:01:57,166 --> 01:01:59,533
it takes a long to make cloth.

1272
01:01:59,566 --> 01:02:01,733
Or they can sit at 
an old school desk

1273
01:02:01,766 --> 01:02:04,100
and do a rubbing, of 
an old school desk

1274
01:02:04,133 --> 01:02:07,400
that has been etched with 
a texture of the truce flag

1275
01:02:07,433 --> 01:02:10,300
and they can do a rubbing, 
black Tyvek, white crayon

1276
01:02:10,333 --> 01:02:11,600
and take that with them.

1277
01:02:12,933 --> 01:02:14,900
Or they might just walk 
into a space and say

1278
01:02:14,933 --> 01:02:17,800
"That's a really big cloth.

1279
01:02:17,833 --> 01:02:19,333
What's that?"

1280
01:02:19,366 --> 01:02:21,233
And it might just 
lodge back there

1281
01:02:21,266 --> 01:02:25,066
in the same way that 
the Dukes of Hazzard

1282
01:02:25,100 --> 01:02:28,266
is in my mind (audience laughs)

1283
01:02:28,300 --> 01:02:31,000
as being a thing.

1284
01:02:32,166 --> 01:02:33,700
Right?

1285
01:02:35,200 --> 01:02:37,766
I made a piece very early on.

1286
01:02:37,800 --> 01:02:42,866
My graduate thesis work 
was a kente cloth strip

1287
01:02:44,766 --> 01:02:46,400
woven piece that's, you know,

1288
01:02:46,433 --> 01:02:48,466
that's just for the 
textile people in the room,

1289
01:02:48,500 --> 01:02:52,433
that so it in part looked 
like West African cloth,

1290
01:02:52,466 --> 01:02:54,766
and in part looked 
like an American flag

1291
01:02:54,800 --> 01:03:00,933
and I was thinking about 
issues of nomenclature,

1292
01:03:02,166 --> 01:03:07,700
like my grandmother 
would call people colored

1293
01:03:07,733 --> 01:03:11,566
and then there was negro, and 
then there was black,

1294
01:03:11,600 --> 01:03:13,666
and then there was Afro 
American and then there was

1295
01:03:13,700 --> 01:03:15,400
African American.

1296
01:03:15,433 --> 01:03:17,066
I'm fond of black, personally.

1297
01:03:17,100 --> 01:03:19,200
It's a little bit more diasporic

1298
01:03:19,233 --> 01:03:21,533
but that's my personal thing.

1299
01:03:21,566 --> 01:03:23,900
When I say African 
American I usually mean

1300
01:03:23,933 --> 01:03:26,366
African Americans.

1301
01:03:27,800 --> 01:03:29,833
And so I was just thinking about

1302
01:03:29,866 --> 01:03:32,533
how all of those name 
changes are trying to

1303
01:03:32,566 --> 01:03:35,200
attend to something 
but ultimately,

1304
01:03:35,233 --> 01:03:36,833
there's something about identity

1305
01:03:36,866 --> 01:03:39,233
that lives on in cloth.

1306
01:03:39,266 --> 01:03:41,433
It's great to have 
people in the audience

1307
01:03:41,466 --> 01:03:44,466
who knew me when I was 
like wet behind the ears

1308
01:03:44,500 --> 01:03:46,766
assistant professor 
because it is true

1309
01:03:46,800 --> 01:03:48,933
that I'm now looking 
back on my work

1310
01:03:48,966 --> 01:03:51,633
and I'm realizing that I 
think my work is better

1311
01:03:51,666 --> 01:03:54,033
when people are engaged in it,

1312
01:03:54,066 --> 01:03:57,633
and so the project that 
Joy Door is referring to

1313
01:03:57,666 --> 01:04:00,800
is a project that had a 
lot of play in Wisconsin

1314
01:04:00,833 --> 01:04:04,633
when I was here called The 
Beaded Prayers Project,

1315
01:04:04,666 --> 01:04:08,133
and it was based on the 
etymology of the word bead

1316
01:04:08,166 --> 01:04:11,800
and prayer, shared etymology 
because of rosary beads.

1317
01:04:11,833 --> 01:04:14,633
You know this mnemonic 
device, a bead,

1318
01:04:14,666 --> 01:04:17,000
helps you know where you 
are in your prayer cycle

1319
01:04:17,033 --> 01:04:19,200
so when a old English beden

1320
01:04:19,233 --> 01:04:20,866
is the word that means to pray,

1321
01:04:20,900 --> 01:04:22,933
and also the word 
that we get bead from.

1322
01:04:24,200 --> 01:04:26,433
And I invited 
people to write down

1323
01:04:26,466 --> 01:04:30,700
wishes, hopes, dreams, 
and aspirations,

1324
01:04:30,733 --> 01:04:33,100
and make these amulets 
that were then beaded,

1325
01:04:33,133 --> 01:04:35,433
and that project actually,

1326
01:04:35,466 --> 01:04:39,100
every time I think it's going 
to go to bed it lives again,

1327
01:04:39,133 --> 01:04:41,700
so we're showing it again at

1328
01:04:41,733 --> 01:04:43,733
the Textile Museum in D.C.

1329
01:04:46,233 --> 01:04:50,400
And strangely, though 
I haven't read this,

1330
01:04:50,433 --> 01:04:53,733
I was told that someone left 
me this card right here,

1331
01:04:53,766 --> 01:04:55,466
and it's someone who,

1332
01:04:55,500 --> 01:05:01,300
who I must have done a 
beaded prayers project with

1333
01:05:01,333 --> 01:05:03,333
'cause there is one.

1334
01:05:04,266 --> 01:05:07,300
(audience murmurs in awe)

1335
01:05:07,333 --> 01:05:08,733
There was another question?

1336
01:05:09,700 --> 01:05:12,400
Well nobody's 
getting truce flags,

1337
01:05:12,433 --> 01:05:14,100
reparations, reparations.

1338
01:05:14,133 --> 01:05:19,200
(audience laughs heartily)

1339
01:05:20,966 --> 01:05:23,033
So it's an interesting 
thing, right,

1340
01:05:23,066 --> 01:05:26,500
because there actually is 
a piece of the truce flag

1341
01:05:26,533 --> 01:05:31,533
that's at Appomattox at 
the museum at Appomattox,

1342
01:05:31,566 --> 01:05:36,533
and when I called Appomattox 
to get information about it,

1343
01:05:36,566 --> 01:05:38,200
the person that I 
got on the phone

1344
01:05:38,233 --> 01:05:40,600
that I was told was the curator,

1345
01:05:40,633 --> 01:05:41,700
someone who knew something,

1346
01:05:41,733 --> 01:05:45,000
said to me, and keep in mind,

1347
01:05:45,033 --> 01:05:46,800
I've seen the one 
at the Smithsonian

1348
01:05:46,833 --> 01:05:48,333
and this person said to me,

1349
01:05:48,366 --> 01:05:50,466
"Oh we have the largest piece."

1350
01:05:50,500 --> 01:05:53,266
No, I was almost a math major,

1351
01:05:53,300 --> 01:05:55,666
but I know if something's 
divided in half.

1352
01:05:55,700 --> 01:06:00,800
(audience laughs heartily)

1353
01:06:00,833 --> 01:06:02,500
So I had more questions.

1354
01:06:02,533 --> 01:06:04,933
I said, "Well how large is your 
piece?"

1355
01:06:04,966 --> 01:06:07,066
And this gentleman told 
me that it was, you know,

1356
01:06:07,100 --> 01:06:08,666
a couple inches by 
a couple inches,

1357
01:06:08,700 --> 01:06:11,000
and I said "Do you not 
know that there's--"

1358
01:06:11,033 --> 01:06:12,566
but not with this much attitude,

1359
01:06:12,600 --> 01:06:17,066
"Do you not know that 
the nation's museum,

1360
01:06:17,100 --> 01:06:22,166
two hours north of 
you has half (sighs)?"

1361
01:06:23,100 --> 01:06:26,233
Anyway, but it's not 
what the focus is.

1362
01:06:26,266 --> 01:06:28,666
It's not what's being 
amplified, right?

1363
01:06:29,600 --> 01:06:32,766
And so the other thing 
that I want to say

1364
01:06:32,800 --> 01:06:35,833
is that I don't think 
of the truce flag work,

1365
01:06:35,866 --> 01:06:40,166
this Monumental Cloth work 
as being a Southern issue.

1366
01:06:40,200 --> 01:06:46,300
Again, Richmond's story, 
and the Civil War's story,

1367
01:06:46,333 --> 01:06:50,666
but Richmond's story, 
is not a Southern story,

1368
01:06:50,700 --> 01:06:52,733
it's not an American story,

1369
01:06:52,766 --> 01:06:54,866
it's a global story.

1370
01:06:54,900 --> 01:06:59,333
The truce flag also fits 
right into that category,

1371
01:06:59,366 --> 01:07:01,466
in my opinion.

1372
01:07:03,733 --> 01:07:06,066
But it is going to have 
a venue in the South,

1373
01:07:06,100 --> 01:07:09,466
eventually, (laughs) yeah.

1374
01:07:09,500 --> 01:07:10,966
Thank you.

1375
01:07:11,000 --> 01:07:13,833
(heavy applause)